kipperfeet

I'm a Lantra registered instructor and never bothered with becoming an assessor for my own reasons for four years. Struggling to get assessors at the moment though so i put in application to become one, booked a verifier for technical evaluation (£250) for the day (just chainsaw and felling), passed it no worries, booked on the next, four day course to fill in paper work at Stoneleigh and got told that they are not taking new assessors for c.s.units for the forseeable future. Ok, so why did you take £250 off me for a tech evaluation, plus a days wages lost, plus travel to south wales, plus overnighter etc to be told i can't go any further if you knew that before you weren't taking any on? That was in July and still no dates booked to complete the long and convoluted road to assessing. Bank on £1500ish for the assessor process and £2000ish for the Lantra process. Ring NPTC at stonleigh and speak to Ruth for cs units assessor application and process details and Lantra house for the Lantra process. Lantra involves a 5 day instructional techniques course, technical evaluation on each unit to train, arb association health and safety course, 5 day First aid at work course etc etc etc. Benifits of Lantra is if you run their courses, their insurance covers you for training. erm, thats it really. May be it's just me, but i think it's a bit silly! (just miffed at the lack of organisation and them taking money for something i can't complete until they work out what they are doing) Sorry NPTC:confused1:

Are you meaning becoming an assessor? If you are, it is silly!

Which "instructors course" is this then? Thought the nptc assess but don't instruct and lantra instruct and assess in the mish mash of training and assessment.

WOW. What a lunatic to do it but what a great reation to get him out of it. might have had a headache and a scratch or two on the Patrol had he not put his foot down at the exact right time. Good vid!

Well, Santa bought me the Fiskars maul in the end and i am well chuffed with it. Will go and test it out tomo, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day! Thanks for all your input.

Ahhhhh. looks like a just a rush job to me. Maybe there was only £50 on it!

Whats your set up for that then Drew?

What did she ban it from?

I tell you what, as i only live a few miles away, i will go back and try and get sneaky shots of the the redhead for you penfold! I have had to hide the bluetoothed blonds picture on my phone so my mrs doesn't think i took it. Then i will never be a loud to Hurst Green again. Shame i missed the college boy heckling though. Cheers for booking the place Lancstree. Good day and a good night. Especially the bar staff!!

Ey up, let us know if anyone else is arriving before 1pm ish and fancies a wander in the hills to keep them from early doors. Myself and Bob Rolfe are meeting at 12 ish and can hang on for anyone else.

Thanks for that Laz. I have been watching the proceedings with interest. Some real rants on that forum! As it happens, there has been a response to the rants which clarifies the aerial rescue situation. It seems it is just a reinforcement of the fact that gangs should be prepared and set up for rescue situations and if there is an accident and there is nothing in place to facilitate this the HSE will, and have, prosecute. Fair enough. It's just a shame these things are not in black and white and easy to interpret. As Andy said - most even bothering to ponder this will be on the ball anyway.

My point exactly yorkshireman. I'm not sure that it is exactly saying that a climber must be on the ground wearing a harness because that would surely be stupid, even for the hse to think but i'm assuming it means that if there is a climber in the tree working then the other climber MUST be on the ground and not in another tree. If you are paying two climbers to climb then it is more cost effective to have them both climbing. I am 100% that there must be at least two people capable of rescue on any climbing job but if your lucky enough to have a good climber and the boss is a good climber then obviosly they would both climb to speed the job up instead of two twiddling thumbs on the deck. I also think that a spare rope and rescue kit in the van for that purpose is not to much to ask. i guess this may speed up the process and save getting the second climbers kit out of the tree and ready to do a rescue. Again, it is unclear about its intetions this new guideline! Some would take this literally iguess and they would probably go out of buissiness and others would ignore it and press on regardlass.

Great picture, i knew that the powerline clearance boys were rough, but blimey! Revision of AFAG Leaflets 308 and 401 - Important changes AFAG 308 Top Handled Chainsaws and AFAG 401 Tree Climbing Operations are currently being revised and the new editions are due to be published in January 2009. These leaflets will contain some significant changes which you should be aware of. Two important amendments relate to changes in the advice relating to PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). The first relates to helmets used during aerial tree work and the revised versions will contain the following wording "A safety helmet, HSE strongly recommend a mountaineering style helmet (complying with EN12492)". The second revision relates to the use of chainsaw protective trousers and revised versions will now include the following wording "Leg protection and groin protection (complying with EN 381-5). HSE strongly recommend Type C leg protection when carrying out aerial work, because of the high all-round chainsaw cut protection. However, in circumstance where the use of Type C is impractical (e.g. because of the higher risk of heat stress associated with this type of equipment), it may be appropriate to use Type A leg protection, if this can be justified by risk assessment." Both the revised AFAG leaflets will also contain strengthened wording relating to the provision of aerial rescue "A minimum of two people must be present during all tree-climbing operations. One of the team must be available on the ground, competent and equipped to perform an aerial rescue without delay". Copies of the revised leaflets will be available from HSE's web site http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/forindex.htm Helmets is fair enough i guess, although, after 12 years of tree work i have never seen anyone take a side impact unless they were ragging round a tree at comps. Although i do think that climbing helmets are alot more practical for climbing in. The trousers get out clause - "However, in circumstance where the use of Type C is impractical (e.g. because of the higher risk of heat stress associated with this type of equipment), it may be appropriate to use Type A leg protection, if this can be justified by risk assessment." is about bloody time. Some would argue that developments in allrounders being lighter weight and drinking more water etc is suitable for combating heat exhaustion but, in all honesty, i never liked allrounders and wore type a's for years and working abroad very rarely wore ppe trousers atall. 30 -35deg is just silly and why would you put a running saw near your legs anyway?I found it very restricting wearing type c's when i was told i had to. My risk assessment will say that i get very hot when climbing and must wear type a's! Easy one for any one to say surely? And the "having a climber on the ground at all times, poised ready to rush up the tree in the event of an accident"! Well, its almost as if we must spend every day scared that there will be an accident instead of thinking we must spend every day getting on with our jobs efficiantly and enjoying it. This stuff is there as "industry best practice" and we should work within it but it is only Guidance is it not? For the newbies in the job, the rights and wrongs of what we shoud do according to afag is far more confusing than working out an A to Z of London at 7.30am And if you can't read an A to Z then you can't get to the job to be poised ready to rescue you other climber when he has an accident! Don't get me wrong, i think we need it and it is mostly common sense and idiots guides that assist people gaining experience. But it is very confusing is the point i am trying to make. Does anyone know who gets the final say on these updates out of interest? no need to name drop, but if you are on here, please justify the Climber on the ground one please.

"it's name is Barry???? and you also have some clear celophane and a bit of orange stuff" teeeheeeheee

Blue tooth, blimey, the last time someone told me i had blue tooth i had to rush to the dentist and get them re whitened. The dentist said "no, there a bit stained though, stop drinking so much tea and get some bloody work done"!

Go on then - lets hear what the thoughts are?

Just thought, Andy (treequip), could you bring one of your star wars helmets? I think we need alot with this new afag guidance coming out in Jan. Wouldn't mind trying one first before we plump the cash.

I'll Be there from 12pm to meet any one who is coming early to tramp up a cold wet hill for fun! My dog is really looking forward to chasing deer. Guess i'll see the rest in the pub later.

Hi Tom, my advice would be, know the schedules in side out so the questions aren't a stumbling block. Don't forget your old 39 stuff, do the cutting by the book, and keep both hands on the saw. Keep it simple with the kit used and just make sure your work positioning is good and you are out of the way of the ropes when rigging. 41 is a very simple assessment with the hardest bit being an old basket hitch or balancing a branch flat. Also remember to keep your communication with your groundie concise and loud but i'm sure you do that any way. Enjoy and good luck.

Ey, i'm from the Midlands so i'll have to facilitate the "what side of the pennines is better" arm wrestle in the pub! I just live in Lancashire now because i love the rain so much. Where is this barn? I can meet people there at between 12 and one and the lead the way to the hills if you like. Sound like a good do now and i'm looking forward to it. Even warned the Mrs that theres a hairy arse convention on up the road so to batton the hatches down on the house just in case!

WOW, good response. Now i'm really spoilt for choice. Gransfors is to much money for me to smack the hell out of wood. They are very nice axes but a bit over rated for the money i think. The fiskars one looks pretty damn good though, my smaller axes are fiskars and they are fantastic bits of kit. But not sure if it would be heavy enough for the bigger stuff. Mind you, i have a 3 hit rule and if doesn't make a dent after that it goes in the "saw pile" for later so i don't loose my stride. But general consensus seems that glass fibre shafts are the way forward for general hacking. Thanks for the info guys, it will go on my list for santa to bring as people keep asking what i want for Chrissie!!

I remember two lads i used to work with when i first started in tree work who didn't get along that well. One had a little accident and lost a finger in the back of a log splitter. They both rushed off to hospital and the lad with the lost finger went in for surgery which took about four hours. The lad that was waiting got bored so went back to the van, ate his own lunch and then started on the lads in surgery. When he came out after being stitched up etc. he was starving, checked his lunch bag and knocked out the other lad with his good hand for eatng his pork pie! I think that eating someones dinner is a step to far and if you get him in again, fill his butties with wood chip and chain oil.

I am easy with what time you guys want to come, i only live a couple of miles away and on a weekend when i'm not working, i walk the dog up on the hills anyway. Bear in mind it gets dark at about 4 so maybe between 12 and 1 would be a good time and then there is a couple of hours to play with depending on what you want to do? An amble up longridge fell is worth the veiw if its a nice day. You can see Snowdonia to the south west and the lakes to the north and in to Yorkshire to the east!

We have a few echos in the fleet, the cs 510 is proving to be a fantastic saw and more than matches, and even betters the equivilant ms260 and the 346xp for the money. We have over 50 saws in the fleet including the usual suspects and a few oddities for trial. The two cs510 have been running for over a year now, and we really batter them, and still performing very well, in fact getting better with the torque. Most stihls start to faulter at this age and we had four 346xp blow up last year after only 12 months of service! The top handle saw is surprisingly good to use and more than enough power with 12" bar. Came with a 14" which was ok but a bit cumbersome for me. I like the way the side handle curves round to the back, which makes it handle almost like a rear handle. Tis a bit plasticy though, not sure it would handle the normal knocks that a Stihl ms200 would unless you where a very caring climber and it was your money that paid for it, but as a back up saw, for the money i can't fault it.

£450 a day round here. Depends how far to travel though.