City & Guilds (NPTC) New Chainsaw Awards

[combined tree services]

This whole thing is ticking boxes. You are going to get hurt if you cut yourself regardless of refresher courses.I came over from NZ 5 yrs ago to the UK and found the nptc thing farcical,not that it's any better at home. You pretty much can't fail these courses unless your a idiot.Majority of the people that ive been on with my courses with should have never passed!.I just can't respect a system that provides passes for these people. Sorry it's not a attack at you just annoys me.

 

it is exactly this out look that causes half of the problems in the first place , as an assessor i have not and will not pass anyone who can not met the criteria and do so in a safe and well executed manor !! the biggest problem we see are "the ive been doing it years brigade" or " the im better than this system and can tell the industry where its going wrong" type ! i would challenge you to sit your assessments again without refresher training and see if you pass !

 

and finally i am fairly sure that when you started out using a chainsaw there were many people that had the same outlook towards you that you have towards the beginners now .

[TREE-SURGEON-ESSEX]

While I agree with training I find this system over expensive and its just not that great, a simple three tier system with beginner intermediate and advance arborist would be so much better but I suspect less profitable

 

I find it hilarious that there is a qualification for a pole pruner, there are just to many and that puts people off, calculate the total cost of every course which is not legally enforced and I'd guess 1/3 to half of established company's dont have many or any qualification, I'm for ever competing with people that are not qualified so I'm at a financial disadvantage.

 

If the AA or NPTC were worth the expense why not lobby the government and make it law to be NPTC qualified like a corgi gas engineer ?.

 

Again the status quo will remain and those of us that try to do every course will just be throwing money away, we do tree work that far exceeds all of the units so they offer no benefit to me other than another expense which my competition won't bother with.

 

Just my view

[nz paul]

it is exactly this out look that causes half of the problems in the first place , as an assessor i have not and will not pass anyone who can not met the criteria and do so in a safe and well executed manor !! the biggest problem we see are "the ive been doing it years brigade" or " the im better than this system and can tell the industry where its going wrong" type ! i would challenge you to sit your assessments again without refresher training and see if you pass !

 

and finally i am fairly sure that when you started out using a chainsaw there were many people that had the same outlook towards you that you have towards the beginners now .

 

Im not part of the ''doing it for years brigade''Im a safe and competent saw user,I don't wanna get hurt so work safe.I would put money on passing my assessments first time,not cocky just confident.I Was a boat builder before i came into tree work so had a pretty good knowledge of tools,machinery so picked up saw work fairly easy,within 6 months of starting i was running my own truck and guys within a large company.You may be one of the better assessors and that's a good thing,but from what ive seen there are a lot that let very easy passes.

[combined tree services]

Paul it is all down to how the assessment schedule is understood by the assessor . The new system has no middle ground ! either the candidate meets the criteria or they dont . i would personally like to see a better industry standard when it comes to beginners !! all to often they are pushed through these courses and are classed as competent climbers within a mater of months !! i see it all the time and it really does concern me !!

[treequip]

While I agree with training I find this system over expensive and its just not that great, a simple three tier system with beginner intermediate and advance arborist would be so much better but I suspect less profitable

 

I find it hilarious that there is a qualification for a pole pruner, there are just to many and that puts people off, calculate the total cost of every course which is not legally enforced and I'd guess 1/3 to half of established company's dont have many or any qualification, I'm for ever competing with people that are not qualified so I'm at a financial disadvantage.

 

If the AA or NPTC were worth the expense why not lobby the government and make it law to be NPTC qualified like a corgi gas engineer ?.

 

Again the status quo will remain and those of us that try to do every course will just be throwing money away, we do tree work that far exceeds all of the units so they offer no benefit to me other than another expense which my competition won't bother with.

 

Just my view

 

You have that the wrong way around, I realise you didn’t say this but the gas industry never lobbied anyone to get regulated, they just killed loads of people and the HSE said, regulate this or else and thus was born CORGI

 

As an industry we don’t kill nearly enough people for that to happen to us and lobbying for legislation will surely fall on deaf ears.