adman

This is about PUWER. It states that users of machinery/ tools etc should be adequately trained and competent (see the HSE website). Effectively you could train you're employee to the national occupational standards but you must ensure that you yourself are competent to do this. Given that our industry is relatively 'high risk' a court would probably frown heavily if you hadn't sent you're lads/ lasses on a proper course given that they're so inexpensive for what you get. Don't risk this kind of stuff, just get the courses done!!!

Yes...it's all we've got!!!!! It's not a complex system so no problems. It should encourage every tree surgeon/ arborist to look at 3998 and educate themselves!

Just moved from a sequioa (fantastic harness) to the Stein vega....even nicer!!!

pm me

if you've got a week a month over about 9 months, try askham bryan at york; L2 arb trees & timber.

hi aitch, what units are looking at?

thought you'd have had a wet start to your week!!!! good vid, but have to agree road controls lacking - new boss needs a bo****ing then! don't forget...a beep & wave as you go past me.

i think the obvious & inevitable is happening as the popularity of firewood increases, so do prices of raw materials. prob we have in our industry (in the broad picture of arb & forestry) is that domestic customers just don't get what goes into running an outfit in terms of overheads, training etc, because they don't really see us as anything but gardeners with attitude (ie, why do we need to charge so much?). i reckon the log market will settle for those who can stick it out for a while but at the end of the day, logs always need to be done in conjunction with another line of business so you can possibly source your own cord etc to keep prices at a sensible level but turn a nice little extra profit for the holidays. keep your hats tight down lads....we're in for a windy ride!!!!!!!!!!

we deliver split & seasoned out the back of a crew cab L200 (approx 35 cubic feet) rather than ton bags (27 cubic feet), charge £60/load. i think the important thing here is that everyones regions are different in customers ability to pay, so its difficult to make accurate comparisons. however, we run a tree surgery too, so logs done when weather too bad for owt else and (considering fuel prices!!) i make sure that all my customers are as local as poss ie, within 15 mins. any further & i would add £20 straight away.

OH MY GOD....PLEASE STOP.....I CAN'T COPE ANYMORE:001_smile:

hi everyone on arbtalk, i'm adman (dean lofthouses wee 'nephew'). hi father zed, read this post with interest and tbh i agree with the others. it's probably not a great industry to start off in 40+ trying to be a climber. i'm 43 and would say i'm quick & efficient at tree work, but this comes from 14 years experience and being involved in rock climbing all my life. i think you'd get alot of injuries which would waste/ hold you back too much. other important thing to consider is you need a huge amount of experience & gut feeling to see you through tight corners, and this is only got from years of time to build this up. i came from forestry before i was involved with tree surgery, so i already had good basic skills & instinct, but i'm still learning lots of things that paper qualifications won't give you...and they tend to be the more important lessons and techniques. take care & think hard before you change your spots!!