Health and Safety Group

[Andy Clark]

After a few conversations yesterday on the subject at the AA show, most of which didn't really give any answers, I'm trying to find out who now heads up Health and Safety "advise/guidance" in the industry?

 

I mean, we used to have the AFAG committee, with reps from both Arb and Forestry in consultation with the HSE - but that was disbanded, giving rise to FISA a little over a year ago.

 

12 months on and FISA still seems to be purely Forestry focussed, so who now carries the mantle for Arb following on from AFAG?

 

Any ideas?

[JaySmith]

Are the HSE still not producing the leaflets? When I last downloaded them they still had the AFAG logo on them. The HSE, as I understand it have people within it who are responsible for arb. At an AA SRT workshop recently Frances from the HSE was there and at the contractors workshop on Saturday there was a guy from the HSE watching the SRT demo and talk by Scott Fraser. Apart from that I don't know either!

[JaySmith]

Try this link: How HSE communicates with the tree industry

 

Frances's email is in there as well

[Andy Clark]

From that link.....

 

"HSE's main route of liaison with the tree work industry is through the Arboriculture and Forestry Advisory Group (AFAG), a key working group of the Agriculture Industry Advisory Committee (AIAC).

 

AFAG provides authoritative guidance widely accepted as describing good industry practice, in GB and internationally.".

 

But as I understand it, AFAG has been disbanded - hence trying to find out what has now taken it's place in terms of Arb.

[jaime bray]

Is there a list in front of aa newsletter detailing names of people who sit on varying groups within industry? Think maybe reg Harris. I know he had reported back to the AWG in the last six months pertaining to afag/hse updates. Having slept since then, my mind does not have the exact situation relating to this. I know that certain afag guides are likely to be continued to be provided electronically by the aa. But I'd imagine that some will need updating and the guides will sit under the umbrella of the icop and be developed in due course.

 

I know it is certainly on the radar within the aa. Doubt you'll get a comment off aa techie today. Think the build up and then running the show has battered the energy levels and they're probably enjoying the day off today.

Edited June 7, 2015 by jaime bray

[Andy Clark]

Is there a list in front of aa newsletter detailing names of people who sit on varying groups within industry? Think maybe reg Harris. I know he had reported back to the AWG in the last six months pertaining to afag/hse updates. Having slept since then, my mind does not have the exact situation relating to this. I know that certain afag guides are likely to be continued to be provided electronically by the aa. But I'd imagine that some will need updating and the guides will sit under the umbrella of the icop and be developed in due course.

 

I know it is certainly on the radar within the aa. Doubt you'll get a comment off aa techie today. Think the build up and then running the show has battered the energy levels and they're probably enjoying the day off today.

 

 

The current Arb magazine still gives Simon Richmond and Karl Lee (UAG) as being the AA reps that sit on the AFAG group - I think Alex Laver was the ISA rep the last time I checked, and Tim Wetherill was the MTOA rep. As I recall the TCIA and the NATO spots were never filled.

 

The point being though that AFAG, as I understand, and I mean the actual group of people, not the publications, has been disbanded.

 

A quick trawl through the AFAG pages of the HSE website even shows the last meeting as being May'14 - leaving speculation that there hasn't been a meeting of the joint committee since. An even further trawl back through past minutes shows the AA voicing concerns as far back as '13 that a split between Arb and Forestry would emerge with the rise of FISA.

[Andy Clark]

Oooo, so, coincidentally, after reading through the recent Summer 2015 copy of the Arb Magazine that I picked up at the show yesterday, I appear to have found the info that I have been after.....

[Andy Clark]

So it would therefore appear that my suspicions were right, and that AFAG has in fact been disbanded!

 

Not sure whether to find it alarming at the moment, but it appears that the replacement for AFAG is Forestry representation being allocated to FISA, an organisation jointly made up of all the sub sectors involved in Forestry, with, by contrast, Arboricultural representation now being solely at the input of the AA.

 

When considering that the Arb input into the old AFAG group was made up of a number of relevant industry bodies from across the whole spectrum of the Arb industry - including the ISA, NATO, the LGE, the MTOA et al, i'm keen to learn, and understand, what the AA will be doing to ensure that the entire industry will still be achieving equal due representation as was afforded by the old AFAG set up.

 

It appears, from the article so far, that, although the article draws reference for the need to consult industry sectors to represent industry needs, the AA have only been consulting their own membership base and their own AAAC.

 

Can someone please tell me this is not the case?

[jaime bray]

Is the survey monkey consultation still running? If so put it up in your thread and see what you can do to help represent the industry as a voice for the forum maybe.

Edited June 7, 2015 by jaime bray

[Andy Clark]

Jaime, i'm not an AA member, nor AAAC, so have no idea or even knowledge of the survey monkey consultation until reading about it an hour ago in the complementary mag from yesterday.

 

A quick trawl of trees.org didn't turn up any info or links either.

 

Perhaps any AA members or AAAC that view this thread would be so kind as to share any info regarding the consultation. Thanks.