I've heard a few people say that 'arb' helmets should not be used on the ground, which always struck me as slightly odd when they are built to withstand a stronger impact than the standard forestry helmet (arb helmets area built to EN12492, forestry helmets to EN397).
So, in a bid to clarify the situation, I contacted the Health & Safety Executive to find out what the actual answer was - here's the reply from Dr Andrew Turner, the Principal Inspector of Health & Safety in the Agriculture, Forestry and Arboriculture Team...
"Dear Mr Vickers
I refer to your query regarding the above.
UK legislation does not specify the choice of PPE, but requires that where PPE is used as a means of reducing risk of injury or ill-health, it must be suitable. The actual choice is likely to be down to a specific risk assessment for the activity and environment in which the work activity is taking place.
For work which involves climbing, helmets to EN12492 provide advantages over helmets to EN397 for the reasons described in your enquiry. In addition, the chin strap ensures that the helmet is less likely to be dislodged when climbing or moving within the canopy. Climbing work inevitably involves work on the ground, and it would be impractical to require a climber to use a different helmet while working from the ground, and there do not appear to be any reasons why a helmet to EN12492 would not provide adequate protection for a ground worker supporting arboriculture work, especially where there is a risk of falling objects.
A helmet to EN397 is also likely to provide adequate protection for a ground worker and is the preferred choice in forestry. Such a helmet is unlikely to provide adequate protection during climbing as it may be dislodged and may not provide adequate protection to side impact.
However, a complicating factor is that not all manufacturers producing helmets to EN12492 approve them for use in groundwork, which is a matter which should be taken up with the manufacturer.
I have looked at our website regarding your comments, and it is likely that this will be amended to more accurately reflect the advice above.
Andrew"
Here's what I sent, just to give the context...
"As a trainer within the forestry and arboriculture industry, I am seeking advice on the EN397 and EN12492 standards as I come across conflicting information, recommendations and guidance regarding the use of 'arboriculture' helmets that meet EN12492 being used for ground work (where EN397 also applies).
A helmet that meets the EN12492 standard is built to withstand vertical forces twice that of the EN397 standard, as well as side impact loading (which is an optional test for EN397). Despite this, I have heard of several assessors, and indeed had several conversations with others who hold the view that an 'arboriculture' helmet cannot be used on the ground e.g. for forestry work.
The INDG317 merely states that for chainsaw work a "safety helmet to EN397" (p.8) should be worn, and as EN12492 would appear to exceed EN397 then one assumes that these helmets can be worn for chainsaw use on the ground.
However, the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/treework/safety-topics/chainppe.htm seems to state that these helmets are not suitable for work on the ground. FISA301: Using petrol drive chainsaws (what was AFAG301) also states helmets must meet EN397... which helmets meeting EN12492 would appear to do.
Can you please clarify the situation regarding the use of EN12492 helmets for use on the ground?
Many thanks,
David Vickers."
So what are we to make of this? I think the key to it all is the comment about it being "down to a specific risk assessment for the activity and environment".
Underpinning knowledge for the medium fell assessment.
Having just completed the audio programme for underpinning knowledge for small fell, in this episode we'll take a look at the guidance given for the Level 3 Award for Felling & Processing Trees Over 380mm.
There is some overlap between the 'small' fell and the 'medium / large' fell assessments, and as before I've left gaps of a few seconds between the different criteria in the assessment. You can download the qualification guidance directly from NPTC.
Here it is...
There is some overlap between the 'small' fell and the 'medium / large' fell assessments, and as before I've left gaps of a few seconds between the different criteria in the assessment. You can download the qualification guidance directly from NPTC.
Here it is...
Underpinning knowledge for the small fell assessment
If you are undertaking your Level 2 Award in Felling and Processing Trees Up To 380mm, then you'll know that as well as demonstrating that you can fell and deal with trees safely, you will have to answer some questions designed to check your underpinning knowledge.
The activities that you have to complete are all in the qualification guidance, which is available from the NPTC website - but over the years that I've been teaching the chainsaw units, I've had a number of course attendees tell me that they can't read, have dyslexia, or some other reason that they find taking in information by reading it, rather difficult.
In the past, I have resorted to making audio CD's and I've been told that they have been found quite useful. So now, I've created a completely free, and freely available, audio program that deals with the underpinning knowledge for the 'small fell' assessment.
I hope you find it useful!
The activities that you have to complete are all in the qualification guidance, which is available from the NPTC website - but over the years that I've been teaching the chainsaw units, I've had a number of course attendees tell me that they can't read, have dyslexia, or some other reason that they find taking in information by reading it, rather difficult.
In the past, I have resorted to making audio CD's and I've been told that they have been found quite useful. So now, I've created a completely free, and freely available, audio program that deals with the underpinning knowledge for the 'small fell' assessment.
I hope you find it useful!
Investing in the future...
Anyway, back to the point at hand... I've been intrigued by the battery powered chainsaws for quite a while, and I was demonstrating at the Bath & West Show a number of years back when I came across a guy using a small Makita battery saw. We had a chat and I watched him using it, but what struck me most was how slow the chain ran. Fast forward several years and battery technology has moved on leaps and bounds and battery saws may well be the future - they're not there yet for full-on, everyday forestry contractor use, but for many applications they are perfect.
So, why did I invest in this Husqvarna 536Li ground saw? How do I envisage using it?
Let's state the obvious, using a battery to power the saw means no petrol, no 2-stroke oil, no more mixing it up, no more smell of petrol, no more fumes. Charging the battery costs a matter of pence each time, and one battery is fully charged in 35 minutes.
That's all well and good, but the decision was not that easy from a training point of view; with no petrol engine to worry about, there's no air filter maintenance, no recoil starter to tension, no spark plug gap to check, no woodchip to clear out from the exhaust - all great things but the NPTC assessment still requires the learner / candidate to demonstrate maintenance of all these things.
From a training point of view, it's not a clear cut decision, however there are many advantages:
- the chain stops instantly (there's no 'run-down' period as there is on a petrol chainsaw);
- I don't use the saw continuously, as I generally use it for demonstrating cuts, and so a couple of batteries will get me through a day of training;
- when a cut is finished and you release the throttle, the saw stops... it's completely silent and that means I can explain relevant points to learners without having to shout over the noise of a chainsaw on tick-over.
- there's no risk of fuel spillage, which is great for 'eco-sites'.
Now offering training dealing with windblown trees.
I'm pleased to say that I'm now able to offer training dealing with windblown trees - this is the City & Guilds NPTC Level 3 qualification 0021-02: Level 3 Award in Severing Uprooted or Windblown Trees Using a Chainsaw.
Use the contact form on the right of the page to find out more if you might be interested in obtaining this useful ticket.
Use the contact form on the right of the page to find out more if you might be interested in obtaining this useful ticket.
Building the resources of the future.
This site isn't going to be disappearing anytime soon, but I am starting the long slow process to building an updated site with much more information - if you want to see the sort of thing I mean then pop on over to http://resources.drivelinktraining.co.uk and take a look. You'll need to register, but the information is totally free - although I will warn you that at the moment it's still under construction so it may not seem terribly friendly to use! But there is a heap of information relating to health and safety, and legislation (there's also plenty behind-the-scenes too, but I'm not ready to release that just yet!).
There's so much to get stuck into, this is already shaping up to be a very busy year, and I've several exciting projects that should start to take shape over the next few months...
Nip on over to http://resources.drivelinktraining.co.uk and take a look.
Congratulations...
This week I'm focussed on climbing and aerial rescue, so let's hope our candidates this week have a great time... although the weather is looking a bit 'iffy'!
Confusing Industry Documentation
We seem to be in a ridiculous and confusing time when it comes to health and safety / industry best practice documentation - and I can't help thinking that the industry needs to get a grip!
Let's start with the AFAG guides - for years a central core to providing guidance on the best practice in the arboriculture and forestry industry. Let's take AFAG301: Using petrol drive chainsaws as an example... this was superceded in many respects by the Health & Safety Executive's INDG317: Chainsaws at work (a much broader and more in-depth document).
However, we now have FISA that appears to be in direct 'competition' with AFAG, and there seems to be some agreement between the two groups that FISA will deal with only forestry-related guidance, and AFAG will cover arboriculture, and arboriculture-and-forestry-related information. A quick look at the FISA guides as they stand at the moment though shows that AFAG301 is now FISA301, and has the same information but is now coloured orange rather than green.
But the INDG317 document is also still valid.
Add in to this mix, the City and Guilds NPTC qualification guidance documents that still only mention AFAG guides - even though the HSE website states clearly that many of the AFAG guides "have been withdrawn".
It gets better though, as looking at the FISA301 guide - are you keeping up? This is the latest incarnation of the AFAG301 (which has been withdrawn), it clearly states that further reading should include INDG294: Managing Health & Safety in Forestry - only the HSE website states "the publication you are looking for has been withdrawn"!
So, we seem to have a series of interlinked documents that have been superceded, with the new versions linking back to withdrawn copies of old guidance notes... and qualification guidance referring to potentially the wrong information. Is it any wonder that health and safety in the industry can be somewhat confusing at times?
Let's start with the AFAG guides - for years a central core to providing guidance on the best practice in the arboriculture and forestry industry. Let's take AFAG301: Using petrol drive chainsaws as an example... this was superceded in many respects by the Health & Safety Executive's INDG317: Chainsaws at work (a much broader and more in-depth document).
However, we now have FISA that appears to be in direct 'competition' with AFAG, and there seems to be some agreement between the two groups that FISA will deal with only forestry-related guidance, and AFAG will cover arboriculture, and arboriculture-and-forestry-related information. A quick look at the FISA guides as they stand at the moment though shows that AFAG301 is now FISA301, and has the same information but is now coloured orange rather than green.
But the INDG317 document is also still valid.
Add in to this mix, the City and Guilds NPTC qualification guidance documents that still only mention AFAG guides - even though the HSE website states clearly that many of the AFAG guides "have been withdrawn".
It gets better though, as looking at the FISA301 guide - are you keeping up? This is the latest incarnation of the AFAG301 (which has been withdrawn), it clearly states that further reading should include INDG294: Managing Health & Safety in Forestry - only the HSE website states "the publication you are looking for has been withdrawn"!
So, we seem to have a series of interlinked documents that have been superceded, with the new versions linking back to withdrawn copies of old guidance notes... and qualification guidance referring to potentially the wrong information. Is it any wonder that health and safety in the industry can be somewhat confusing at times?
The All New Chipper Course... Has it gone legislation mad?
Or is it? We all know it's important to maintain health and safety standards - we work in a dangerous industry after all, and stupid 'mistakes' are still being made such as this example where a worker lost an arm in a chipper, and this example of an unsupervised and untrained teenager operating a chipper who lost his toes after pushing the brash into it. These aren't accidents from decades ago either... how is it there is still such ignorance about the law surrounding this equipment?
All of the new Level 2 Awards have a common thread through them - risk assessment, emergency planning, and legislation - and I think that's a good thing, but why does the Level 2 Woodchippers talk about the following NINE regulations...
- Management of Health & Safety At Work Act '99
- Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations '98
- Control of Vibration at Work Regulations '05
- Personal Protective Equipment Regulations '92
- Manual Handling Operations Regulations '92
- Noise at Work Regulations '89
- COSHH
- "Countryside and Wildlife Act '81" (shouldn't that be the Wildlife and Countryside Act anyway?
- RIDDOR
...when the Level 2 chainsaw maintenance and crosscutting only has:
- Health & Safety at Work Act
- PUWER
- AFAG guides (no mention of INDG317: Chainsaws At Work or the FISA guides which have taken over from some of the formally relevant AFAG guides)
No mention of RIDDOR there... and no mention of the PPE regulations either... or the manual handling regs, control of vibration, noise at work, or COSHH for that matter! All of which apply equally to using chainsaws as much as using the chipper.
Perhaps City & Guilds NPTC should consider separating out the legislative stuff and running it as a distinct assessment? Then enforcing refresher training on this.
What do you think?
Congratulations...
Just wanted to say "well done" to Paul, Alex, Ken and Colin for successfully completing their Level 2 Award in Felling and Processing Trees Over 380mm (the old 'CS32') assessments, and also to Larbi, Stuart and Ieuan for passing their Level 2 Award in Chainsaw Maintenance and Crosscutting ('CS30' as was).
Congratulations all round and I look forward to seeing some of you back for further courses as I know Alex is back for chipper training, and as soon as I can arrange it both Alex and Paul will be undertaking the new dealing with windblown trees course as they passed their medium / large fell.
All the best,
David.
Congratulations all round and I look forward to seeing some of you back for further courses as I know Alex is back for chipper training, and as soon as I can arrange it both Alex and Paul will be undertaking the new dealing with windblown trees course as they passed their medium / large fell.
All the best,
David.
Medium / Large Fell: space available.
The course, which runs in January from the 27th-31st used to be the old CS32, but is now the Level 3 Award in Felling and Processing Trees Over 380mm.
In this course, you'll learn a variety of different cuts and deal with winching operations, as well as legal and environmental considerations and health & safety issues.
To find out more, you can visit the NPTC website where you can find details of the assessment requirements at http://www.nptc.org.uk/qualificationschemedetail.aspx?id=352 or contact Sparsholt College at 01962 797213 (Gill Yeeles).
Need a chainsaw trainer?
But first, one of the reasons why I've not been posting on here is that I left my job as Forestry & Arboriculture Short Course Manager at Sparsholt College to go out on my own. At the time, I was busy with woodfuel and the wood heat industry, as well as continuing to deliver some training at Sparsholt.
This post then, is just to let you know that if you require a contract chainsaw trainer, please do get in touch with me directly on 0790 067 7715 or via the contact form to the right.
My experience:
I spent 8 years managing and delivering forestry and arboriculture short courses at Sparsholt College:
- CS30 / L2 Award in Chainsaw Maintenance & Cross-Cutting
- CS31 / L2 Award in Felling and Processing of Trees up to 380mm.
- CS32 / L3 Award in Felling and Processing of Trees over 380mm
- CS38 / L2 Award in Tree Climbing & Aerial Rescue
- CS39 / L3 Award in Aerial Cutting of Tress
- as well as stump grinding, woodchipper operations and MEWP operations.
I have an excellent reputation for training, and believe in providing inclusive training to help everyone achieve their goals.
Contact me via the form on the right, or call me on 0790 067 7715 to discuss your training requirements.
Woodfuel: Heating The Nation
You may have noticed that the image at the top of the site has changed... and this is because I have embarked on a new project that I'm really excited about - and also the reason that posts may slow down here for a bit, as I put a lot of my spare time into the new project.
However, I'm not leaving you, the site will still be active and please do contact me if you want to see something specific related to chainsaws on here. I'm also holding off doing any videos for the moment as I want to work out how to best bring you the new structure for chainsaw units.
But what of the new project? Well, I've was fortunate enough to record and photograph a woodfuel conference in Surrey, back in September. Fast forward to the end of December and I had an idea that I wanted to increase awareness of the industry through the creation of a documentary about it, or rather those people that are involved. If you are in the timber industry, a woodland owner, or thinking about fitting a wood chip / wood pellet boiler, then this project might interest you.
I've been really lucky, and although I'm currently only at the pre-production stage, I've been lucky enough to get agreement from several businesses, organisations and individuals in the industry, allowing me to interview and film them. I'm hoping to start this phase at the end of January / start of February.
If you would like to keep up to date with what is going on, I've created a Facebook page at http://facebook.com/woodfuel.heating.the.nation and have more in-depth (but less frequently updated) posts at http://www.davidvickers.co.uk/blog - I'll also post up here about it occasionally too.
So, please do visit and "like" the page at http://facebook.com/woodfuel.heating.the.nation and keep up-to-date, or tell me your news and what you are doing in the woodfuel industry. Have you thought about supplying it, but didn't know how to start? Post a comment and I'm sure someone will help you out.
Dealing With Stihl Chains: Part 3
Apologies for the delay for getting part 3 of the Stihl chain series to you. It's probably worth a very quick recap on what we've done so far, before carrying on with this part. Let's take a look at this Stihl chain...
...from what we know so far, it's not one of the latest chains as it has the pitch marked on it, rather than just a single identifying number. How do I know that? Because it says "3/8" on the depth gauge of the cutter - therefore it's a 3/8" pitch chain. For a bonus point, how would still now mark a chain with this pitch?
Now look at the drive link, that's got a 6 on it. So now, double or quits... what does this number tell you? No peeking!
So how did you do so far? The new chain would mark the depth gauge with the number "3" for a 3/8" chain. The 6 on the drive link tells you that it's a 1.6mm gauge chain. Knowing this, we can tell this is a model 36 chain. But in this post we want to know about the letters that Stihl would use to identify this chain.
The third character of the model identifier is a letter and it is either an "R" or a "P". The "R" denotes a Rapid chain, a "P" is for a Picco chain. What's the difference? The Rapid chain is a standard height chain and is the one shown in the picture. The Picco chain is a lighter-weight chain often found on the smaller chainsaws. One quick thing, the older Picco chains were easily identified as they had the letter "P" stamped on to the depth gauge, and Picco chains were 3/8" pitch.
So, we now know that the chain in this image is a model 36R-something, and in the next post we'll have a look at what the 'something' is.
New for 2013...
Happy New Year for 2013, and I'd like to wish all of you best wishes. This year promises to be a busy one, with a fairly major project just getting started - more on that in a moment. Later on this week, I'll be getting back to completing the short series on dealing with Stihl chains, and after that it might go quiet for a little while. Why..?
I'm working on producing a documentary about the woodfuel industry. I've already got several key people ready to be interviewed, and late last week it started to turn international, with help and information from the US, Belgium and Zambia.
I've set up a Facebook page at http://facebook.com/woodfuel.heating.the.nation - please take a look, "like it" and check it out on a regular basis as I'll be posting up various questions, news and views and some behind-the-scenes stuff going forward.
Xmas Hols...
Just wanted to wish you all a Happy Xmas and New Year - I'll be back with more chainsaw related articles, and the continuation of the Dealing With Stihl Chains series.
But that's going to be it for this year - I was going to post a couple more articles but as my Nan died yesterday afternoon, just a couple of hours after seeing her, I'm not much in the mood for it.
Anyway, I wish you all well for the festive period. See you in 2013.
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.
Health and Safety: Fine of £111,000...
I was just flicking through the latest (January 2013) copy of hsw magazine, dealing with health and safety at work when I came across this mention of a wildlife park owner was fined £111,000 after a Beech tree fell on a visitor. The site had had trees assessed by an expert, but seemingly had not actioned any recommendations.
To find out more information on this ruling and the events leading up to it, visit http://www.healthandsafetyatwork.com/hsw/risk-assessment/manor-house
Dealing With Stihl Chains: Part 2
In the last post, we saw that it, perhaps, wasn't all that obvious how Stihl derive their model numbers - which you need to understand to be able to read a Stihl filing table. Last time, we saw that the first character of the model designator was based on the pitch of the chain. But what about the second character?
To decipher the model number we also need to recognise that the second number relates to the gauge of the chain. Just as there are industry standard sizes for chain pitch, there are recognised sizes for chain (and bar) gauge.
Starting from the narrowest, these are 1.1mm, 1.3mm, 1.5mm, 1.6mm and 2.0mm. Here, Stihl just take the number after the decimal point and stamp that on to the drivelink, thereby indicating the gauge of the chain. Therefore, a chain with a "3" stamped on to the drivelink is a 1.3mm gauge chain. Easy.
The second character of the Stihl model number is just this single gauge reference number. This means then, that with the knowledge gained from the last post and this one, if we have a chain stamped with a "2" on the depth gauge, and a "6" on the drivelink, then we can deduce that it's a 0.325" pitch chain with a gauge of 1.6mm; furthermore the model number (so far) is "26".
With the slightly older chains, the pitch was marked up differently, so a "3/8" on the depth gauge and a "6" on the drivelink would have told us that it was a model "36" chain.
We have now looked at how the model number is formed, but if you look at a filing table, you'll see a whole bunch of letters after this number - they gotta mean something. Surely? Well, yes, of course - and that's the subject of the next post.
Dealing With Stihl Chains: Part 1
When it comes to sharpening, identifying Oregon chains to get the requisite filing information is a relatively simple affair - look up the model number on the drive link, check the profile and consult the filing table.
Stihl, on the other hand, isn't quite as easy... or is it? Stihl have 'relatively recently' changed how they mark their chains, so I'm thinking it might be worth spending a few posts looking at how we can identify the various Stihl chains; starting with the most complex way and arriving at the simplest in a post or two (or more!) time.
The initial problem is that Stihl do not mark their chains with a model number, although the Stihl boxes that you buy a chain in do display model number. So first off, how can we correlate the model numbers on the box, with the markings on the chain? Well, I could just tell you the quick way, but as this is designed to be an educational site, we'll consider Stihl chains in a slightly wider context first of all, and then bring all the information together to identify our chain.
Pitch. There are a number of commonly available, industry standard pitch sizes - 1/4", 0.325", 3/8", 0.404" and 1/2" (unlikely to see that last though). On Stihl chains the pitch is stamped into the depth gauge, and you'll see "1/4", "325", "3/8", "404" or "1/2" (or at least you would have done before Stihl changed their markings!). You might also see the letter "P" stamped into the depth gauge too, and that denotes a Picco™ chain.
However, this has changed and now you'll see a number from 1 to 7 instead. So, "1" relates to a 1/4"; "2" relates to 0.325"; "3" is a 3/8" chain, "4" is a 0.404" pitch chain, "5" is a 1/2", "6" is the 3/8" (Picco™) and "7" is a 1/4" (Picco™) chain.
Remember those numbers, as the first character of the model number for the Stihl chain relates to the pitch; so a model 26 chain is a 0.325" pitch chain (as the "2" denotes a 0.325" pitch).
Let's leave that sink in first, and in the next post we'll get to grips with how the second character of the model number is derived.
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