The New CS30

You may be aware that there are changes afoot with the qualification structure around all the Certificates of Competence. So, in this quick post I'll just try to set out the main points of (what used to be) the CS30 ticket.

As from May 2013, the CS30 will be no more. It'll now be called the rather snappily titled City & Guilds NPTC Level 2 Award in Chainsaw Maintenance and Cross-Cutting (QCF) 0020-03. It's still made up of 2 units, just as CS30 was made up of CS30.1 (maintenance) and CS30.2 (cross-cutting) these have become Unit 201 and 202 respectively.

So much for the renaming, what about the content? It's largely the same; there are a few subtle changes but nothing that will radically alter the underlying and underpinning knowledge. There is now a requirement to show some very superficial knowledge regarding health and safety legislation such as HASAWA (Health And Safety At Work Act), PUWER (Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations) and the AFAG guides (Arboriculture & Forestry Advisory Group). You'll need to explain why maintenance should be undertaken, and what to do with a faulty chainsaw. There are some very minor changes to the chain elements - there is no longer a need to identify the individual components of the chain and state their function, and they've limited the cutter types to just chisel and semi-chisel; although there is still definite merit in knowing this information... if someone tells you to read the model number off of the drive link, but you don't know what a drive link is, then...

Within the crosscutting section, you will now need to explain how to grade timber and present logs for extraction and describe how to move timber safely by hand, with aid tools or using some form of mechanical assistance.

To be honest, it really doesn't appear to be any kind of radical departure from what I would normally cover in one of my courses, mind you trying to fit it all in in 2 days of tuition can be a bit difficult at times!

CS30 is dead, long live CS30! Or at least long live the City & Guilds NPTC Level 2 Award in Chainsaw Maintenance and Cross-Cutting (QCF) 0020-03.