DriveLink

I hope you find someone to work with on your CS30/31 assessment - if you want any questions answered please feel free to PM me here on ArbTalk, or check out the website in my signature for CS30 information. Best of luck. David.

Whilst you are absolutely right in that people will have widely differing abilities, we also need to be careful about those who are under-achieving. Why? Because, they may have consistently under-achieved not through lack of ability, but through a lack of skills in reading / writing. It's up to trainers to recognise the ability levels of those they are training, and put information across in such a way that can help everyone. Oddly enough, it's through this personalised training, almost dealing with everyone differently, that we can try to achieve equality (i.e. giving everyone a chance to succeed - having said that, some will, some won't!). I recently had a student who commented about other places treating them as "stupid", after I had provided course notes on coloured paper to help them read the text, and we were talking about his dyslexia. So, although I recognise that IQ levels will have a major bearing on it all, we shouldn't consider someone as 'dumb' if they've not been able to learn through standard texts. It's about how the information is put across...

Firstly, can I just thank you all for your time and responses! It's been really interesting reading what you've had to write - whether as a learner, or a trainer (or both!). Bermy - please do use the cartoon and let us know how it works out. I've only used it a couple of times myself, but people seem to like it. Don't forget there are also a series of video's on Drive Link that you could use as well. There's starting a chainsaw, dealing with snapped cords on the recoil starter and a few others too. They've been watched over 52,000 times now! Can't quite believe it myself! Anyway, it's all resources to be used by anyone. Lee - your comment "Well done mate, there are lots of dyslexics in this game for some reason or another some very good arbo's!!" is so true. I've had students that couldn't read, and others who have studied at Level 5, others have been 'landed gentry' and yet others leaving prison. It doesn't matter what your background is, with the right training, everyone is equal and capable of achieving something. I've also recently put together a short paper on the use of 'mobile technology', i.e. video and audio, because I believe that it could help people learn stuff and potentially reduce accidents in industry. Perhaps I should load that up too for you all to see and comment on? Thanks, David.

You might find that if they had been through the 'dyslexia tests' then they may have been eligible for extra time during exams. As far as teaching goes, a trainer will often put the same point across using a variety of techniques. By way of example, I had a CS30 short course the other day where two of the four students had declared dyslexia. I use a lot of imagery anyway when I explain something, but I don't when it comes to talking about sharpening. Anyhow, with 50% of my students dyslexic, there was little point in writing up the steps - hence I drew the steps on the whiteboard instead. Those picture steps are the ones on my DriveLink website here. Basically then, I changed how information was presented based on the intended audience.

Hi skyhuck, I think it's quite common for those with dyslexia to find it more difficult to grasp lists of things, or to grasp something on a step-by-step basis. So what would be the best way for you to take on-board a new skill? If I'm right in assuming that breaking something down into a series of steps is not easier for you, what would be the best way? Would demonstrating the whole thing first, and then you having a go work better? Would showing you the first step, then you practicing that, before showing you the next step (and so on) be better? I guessing the first option may help as you'll be able to see the bigger picture - but you tell me...

You may have a point - the rise in dyslexia is alarming and it can make one question whether the rise we have seen over the years is down to an actual increase in dyslexia, or an increase in those who are not trying to learn. Now it's not my place to answer that, but I understand the sentiment. However, one thing that I have learnt is that for those who declare some form of learning difficulty, altering how I present information can make a big difference to their success. That doesn't mean that I'm doing stuff for them, just altering the way I put across information.

Thanks for your post josharb87, not sure I agree with everything you say, but it's interesting to note that reading between the lines, training should be about having a laugh and not just listening to someone talking for ages. It's certainly something that I try to do (and I'm sure many other trainers here do the same thing). In teaching terminology, most people that attend my courses are visual / kinaesthetic - which basically means that they want to see and do, not be talked at for hours on end! So, humour is important as is doing stuff - something as simple as getting a student to get up and point to something is more interesting for the learner than being told it by a trainer. Thanks for your input josh, I hope other students add their comments...

May offer one bit of advice? Call your local emergency services (ambulance) HQ. Here at Sparsholt, I took issue with something that appeared in the NPTC assessment schedule, and wanted to check out some background facts. I called the HQ and they sent out some paramedic trainers to us! The paramedics were great - we set up a scenario at the college and a couple of paramedics came out with an ambulance that they use for training. They told us how they would deal with various situations and what we could do to help the casualty and them. I'm looking to create an arb first aid course, but I also want to include 'more advanced aerial rescue techniques' in it as well. Anyway, call them, they're very helpful. David.

This is one of those things where some of the problem lies with the way that we all use terms relating to mass and weight interchangeably. Kilograms (kg) is actually a measure of mass. Weight (kN) is mass multiplied by gravity. So, W (weight) = m (mass) x g (gravity). Fortunately, gravity is a constant, so that never changes - it's rounded off to a value of 9.81. (That's 9.81 metres per second squared). W = m x 9.81 We'll measure mass in kilograms (kg) and weight in Newtons (N). So for something with a mass of 10kg... W = 10 x 9.81 W = 98.1N Let's try and make this even simpler by rounding off gravity to a value of 10 rather than 9.81, so we can now make a very quick rough estimate that if our karabiner says 25kN... 25kN = m x 10 or rewritten, that's the same as m = 25kN / 10 m = 25000N / 10 m = 2500kg or 2.5 tonnes approximately. Notice that I went from 25kN to 25000N as the 'k' represents a thousand of something. I've got no idea if that actually helps or not! I hope so. In summary then, 1) Convert the kN value to N by multiplying it by 1000. 2) Divide that figure by 10. 3) Thats the weight in kg. (If you want to be more accurate divide by 9.81 in 2) above).

Check out this page... it may help Flatliners Southeast Climbing FAQ's - What's a Kilonewton?

I reckon you got that spot on there Tom. Interesting point about dyslexic people struggling with capital letters - I usually write on my board in capitals, and it was brought to my attention by one of the teacher trainers here. Although, asking most students about it seems to indicate that they prefer it in uppercase! The other thing that can be a useful way of training is a system that was developed in the US in the early 20th century for shipyards - it's still in common use and I bet that most trainers use it without realising it. It's called EDIP... - Explain - Demonstrate - Imitate - Practice I've found that many people in this industry are practical, rather than academic, individuals and would prefer to do something rather than sit down and listen to someone waffling about the intracacies of whatever it is. The EDIP model can be very effective - you talk a task through, show how it's done, then the student can have a go (with you providing some feedback), then after that they can go away and practice it (they will almost certain learn something about it as they go too).

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but if you suffer from scotopic sensitivity then you may find that things like black text on white paper extremely difficult to read, or stripey things appearing in 3-dimensional form rather than flat, or difficulty in dealing with distances. In effect, for those people coming on a course, it would mean that course notes should either be provided with a coloured acetate, or printed on coloured paper (pale yellow, blue or pink, for example). The distance thing potentially could make sink cuts awkward to accurately achieve. Glare and contrast seems to affect those with this condition more than others. So, for trainers like me who use a whiteboard (which can suffer from high reflectivity), it could make it difficult for learners to depict what it is that I'm drawing on the board. I hope that's right!

Is this of use to anyone..? On my website, I've just put up a post about helping dyslexic learners and I've included a pictorial representation of the steps in sharpening a chain. To be perfectly honest, it's actually a storyboard for a video that I want to make, so it's pretty scant of actual information, but it shows the sharpening process broken down into 8 steps. After I'd finished drawing it out, I wondered if it would be at all useful for others. If you want to download it, then pop over to Drive Link: Supporting Dyslexic Learners, click on the picture and print it off (it is sized to print on a normal sheet of A4). If it is useful, then please feel free to use it. If not, then no harm done. The video will be along later... Cheers, David.

As some of you may be aware, I'm a trainer at Sparsholt College, and I've noticed an increase lately in the number of students on my courses that have learning difficulties - dyslexia, in particular. I try to help those students out that either request it, or after talking to them about it, would like some form of assistance. To be honest, this normally means putting information across in a different manner (of course, this can help anyone really). One of the reason why I make videos / audio programmes available is to help those who would prefer to watch / listen to something rather than read the course notes / assessment schedule. If you are a trainer, how do you help your students? If you're a student, what would have helped you out on a course? I strongly believe that by making information more widely available and accessible to all, accidents in industry can be reduced, as well as knowledge increased. I'd be interested in your thoughts... David.

When a product falls under the scope of a 'New Approach Directive' (which PPE does), it must comply with the requirements of the relevant directives to be CE marked. For PPE this directive is, I believe, 89/686/EEC. A product that conforms to the 'New Approach Directive' is shown to do so through the Certificate Of Conformity (and it goes through a conformity assessment process to do so). Now I get confused, as there's also a Declaration Of Conformity where manufacturers operating in the EU have to demonstrate that a product complies with H&S requirements of the relevant directives, but... and this is the bit that I don't get... this shows conformity to the European Directive and not necessarily the European Standards. So, manufacturers can comply with the technical requirements of the Directive directly, or they can comply with European Harmonised Standards and in that case it provides presumption of conformity to essential H&S. Geez, this is damnably confusing... What's the difference between a Certificate Of Conformity and a Declaration Of Conformity? Is it that the Certificate shows that a product has undergone testing and has been shown to conform? Does the Declaration show that a manufacturer believes there product conforms, even though no official testing has been done? Finally, do we care and is it relevant?

I've done a quick review of the Topsaw Pocket Wrench - it's pretty neat and compact really. Anyway, if you're at all interested, you can find it at Drive Link Thanks, David.

Although the pole rescue is proposed in the new CS38, it may be some time before it actually happens - as far as I can see the new assessment schedules wont go live until LANTRA gets the National Occupational Standards agreed and signed off. Who knows when that will be? As it stands at the moment, the pole rescue could be included as the second rescue, but more usually this second rescue is transferring the casualty on to the rescuers line. It's a move that's to be welcomed (making pole rescues mandatory) as it is quite different from the basic rescue in a tree.

Hi all, I have two places on a CS38 course running the week commencing 26th January. This five day course consists of four days tuition covering the NPTC climbing trees and aerial rescue syllabus and the fifth day is the assessment. The course is being run at Sparsholt College, near Winchester, Hampshire and we are offering these two places with a 10% discount of the tuition fees. So, the charge will work out as follows: Tuition @ £595.00 - 10% = £535.50 NPTC registration @ £45.75 NPTC assessment and handling fee @ £60.00 This brings the all-in total to £641.25. That price includes tuition, course book, all climbing gear, PPE, and of course the NPTC assessment. Hell, we'll even throw in a couple of trees for you to climb too (although these are returnable at the end of the course ). If you're interested, please contact Liz Thornton, quoting code CS38ARBTALK. You can email her at [email protected] or call her on 01962 797213. Thank you, David.

So, if I get this right, between you and Bob, that's a braille version in Polish...? I'd love to do it, but unfortunately I'm really busy brushing the cat and sorting out my cutlery drawer...

I've started to upload the audio sections to the DriveLink website - I'll be putting each section in it's own post to make it easier to revise just the points that you might be interested in. I'll be uploading the various elements over time, rather than just dumping the whole lot in one go. Hope someone finds it useful! Cheers, David.

I'd like to think it was the superior training that the student received... LOL. I had one student, a while ago now, that asked his wife to read the schedule to him and ask him questions - that's actually what prompted me to do this audio version (it's just taken me about 18 months to get around to it!).

I'm currently working on producing an audio version of the NPTC CS30 assessment schedule - it's not terribly exciting I know, but I recently had a student who could not read and I felt that it put him at a bit of a disadvantage to the rest of the group, as it made it somewhat harder for him to revise for the assessment. I spoke to the student afterwards and asked whether it would have been worth having an audio version, and the view was that it was definitely worth a try! So, at some point over the next day or so, I'm hoping to be putting up an audio (MP3) CS30 assessment schedule accessible via http://drivelink.blogspot.com if anyone is interested. I'll let you know when it's completed, Cheers, David. PS: The student passed anyway!

Thank you Wood-Wolf, it was put together for the 150+ chainsaw students that I teach a year and I figured that others might find some bits useful too. Cheers, David.

Hi, just thought I'd let you know that I've just completed a short (6 1/2 minute) training video on how to start a chainsaw safely. Now, I'm sure you all know how to do it, but this is really aimed at those of you who may be about to take your CS30 assessment and just want to do a quick bit of revision. You can check it out over at DriveLink HQ: http://drivelink.blogspot.com . I hope that it's useful for somebody! If you're a trainer and you'd like a higher quality copy then let me know and burn one on to a CD and get it out to you. It'll be in AVI (Windows) format; or I could do MOV (Apple / Quicktime) format, but I'm having problems with the first few seconds of audio with this format. Don't know why, all a bit odd really

If it's of any interest to anyone, I'm just writing up a short series of posts about common problems and how to overcome them when sharpening the chain. I realise that everyone has their own way of doing things, but for anyone that's interested head over to http://drivelink.blogspot.com I've just posted about side plate angles / the amount of hook and the next post will be about cutter lengths, then filing angles / the leading edge.