5thelement

The implications are obvious, same as knowingly allowing your employees to work on one rope. Your Insurance will use it as an excuse not to pay out and HSE will use it as a lever in any court action. All any employer has to do as part of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Act is to run regular refreshers/updates/training days, call them what you want. No trainer has to be there, no course fees, training can be done ‘in house’ and recorded on the back of a fag packet if need be, it’s not hard.

The FCA proposed going back to basics a while back in regard to Forestry training. An employee could do a 5 day training course in say, CMCC & felling up to 380mm (CS30/31) and then consolidate these skills under the guidance of their employer, getting a logged journal completed, hours on the saw per task etc, before sitting the NPTC assessment, can’t see why this couldn’t be carried over to Arb. FISA and just about everyone else rubbished the idea, claiming it would be too difficult to manage, I can’t see why, that’s how it was when I started out, anything is doable with the right management, people just can’t be arsed.

I’ve worked with a couple of small outfits who would practice aerial rescues in slow weeks and use up all the short dated First Aid stuff practicing their application, although these outfits where very few and far between. Most Arb firms I’ve worked with don’t do any of this and the contents of their First Aid kits are useless, if they have one at all. I carry a Cat7 Tourniquet and a celox z fold on my felling belt and harness and rely on my own ability to self administer and self rescue, anything else is a bonus.

A few of them had started to flower whilst Ive been working away, once dried these will be eaten straight away. I have a larger batch that I staggered that will be lifted later on for storing over winter. I don’t grow whites here as they are dirt cheap to buy, reds and shallots are generally very expensive in comparison.

Off on my holidays this week so lifted a barrow full of red onion and garlic to dry them out before storing away.

I was too polite to comment.

When I was landscaping back in the early nineties I worked with a gang of about a dozen, four sets of three that switched around depending on the job. On Friday afternoon we used to knock off after lunch, head to the fuel station and fill up the trucks, power wash all the vehicles, trailers, rotorvators etc, the vans where kept clean inside because the owner inspected them prior to getting the wages out. All the hand tools would be cleaned and counted ready for the following week. There where two pints waiting behind the bar at the pub round the corner for each employee. After about an hour the boss would arrive and have a chat about the weeks jobs, any problems with kit, staff etc. The two pints where just enough to wet the whistle and get people opening their gobs, but not enough to start argy bargy, this meant that nothing really festered amongst the employees as things where nipped in the bud.

I used to work with a gang when I was up North. We had an agreement that if anyone started griping on the job they would be called Susan (as in Sulky Susan) for the rest of the day, they would be introduced to anyone including customers as Susan, even in the pub on the way home, griping soon stopped.

Ornamental Cherry, possibly Prunus padus from the upright growth habit.

I plant my carrots in between rows of onions or shallot, not had a problem with carrot fly so far.

I had a chat to him last week, he is sorting me out. 👍

This street party is shit.

I don’t want to either, it’s been thrust on me from NPTC to continue being an Assessor. I have a current Emergency First Aid +F that covered catastrophic bleeds, crush and impact injuries as well as the usual CPR etc, so totally relevant to the industry, the course was excellent and run by a working paramedic. The last 3 day one I did was full of office bods discussing paper cuts and scalding themselves with coffee whilst falling asleep at their desk, no tourniquets, no celox, and next to no point.

In my experience, without the use of herbicide, established Cherry Laurel is hard to kill. Last year I cut a section out of my own hedge to install a rose arbor, grubbed out the roots and threw them on the compost heap where they sprouted new growth.

My point is you would still get £1.7bn without it costing £90m 👍.

The French royal family obviously cost zero. Their palaces, art galleries and vast estates still exist and have more visitors than any country on earth, generating huge revenues, so the actual royals are surplus to requirements it would seem.

I’m in the same boat. I’ve contacted Mediarb based in the Midlands, they offer industry relevant training backed up with a good reputation, not heard back from them with dates as yet though. The last 3 day one I did was with The Red Cross, dull, dull and even duller candidates, never again.

EFAW+F is essential if you want to work with anyone who cuts on Forestry Commission land or any of the large estates who signed up to the FISA bullshit, you will be closing doors to yourself if you don’t have it, Mediarb run excellent and industry relevant courses (ex-military medic). Personally I appreciate the fact that my fellow cutters are trained in first aid in case of an accident. Wouldn't bother with the large trees just yet. Get some time on the saw under your belt then do the medium tree ticket, you can do the multiple/interwoven wind blow ticket instead of the individual wind blow ticket when you hold medium, the multiple/interwoven ticket is far better.

Mendips Forestry are local to you, decent outfit, worth a call if you haven’t already. 👍

Not had any issues with them for decanting Aspen from a 25 litre to 5 litre can. Slow with chain oil but still working fine without any spillages in the workshop. I only use 5 litres fuel a day and less in chain oil so work fine for my needs.

Aeroflow dispenser for 20-25 litre containers. eBay item number 183696514855.

I buy the 25 litre drums, a small saving over the 5 litre bottles and a lot less hassle. I have a screw on tap that I bought on eBay, seals perfectly, drum lies horizontal on the work bench and doesn’t spill a drop when I decant.

I’ll bring my own saws in on Monday Mick. 😂

LPX was discontinued, DPX still going. Husqvarna dealers where giving away 3 free loops of it with every new pro saw bought for quite a while. The EXL replaced it and is a good chain, the Husqvarna C85 X-Cut is even better IMO.

The MSM have been tearing into the current lot because they are a bunch of blatantly corrupt, inept morons or have you not noticed? They are tearing into Starmer because he is equally low grade. You keep banging the drum about what the opposition called for during Covid, unfortunately the opposition are in no position to make any decisions as they weren’t in government, the party you voted for was, and they made all the decisions. They got the Brexit vote sorted then made a pigs ear of it, led us through the Covid farce making millions for themselves whilst people died and companies went to the wall. One of the big issues with the Brexit vote was immigration controlling our borders, how they handling that? And don’t regurgitate any claptrap about the current lot not wanting to upset the loony left. The British have been masters of the English Channel for a 1000 years, hammered both French and Spanish Armada on more than one occasion, yet the government, big wigs in Whitehall, MoD and the Admiralty are powerless because liberal lefty vegan Karen who works down Holland and Barratt actually call the shots, total balls. The current lot are raking in millions of pounds of tax payers money, replacing its previous Covid cash cow, they could deal the rubber boats issue in a phone call but chose not too because they are raking it in. At least previous Tory governments have had the decency to keep the economy buoyant, they haven’t even done that. And your going to put a big ‘X’ on the ballot paper for these chumps next time?