Who is this course for?
- Those wishing to comply with HSE recommendations
- Those who are frequent users and have the NPTC City & Guilds Level 2 or 3 Awards in Felling and Processing Trees up to or over 380mm (or equivalent) which was taken more than 5 years ago
- Those who are occasional users and have the NPTC Level 2 Award in Felliing and Processing Trees up to or over 380mm (or equivalent) which was taken more than 3 years ago
- Those who are frequent users and have the City & Guilds NPTC Level 2 Award in Chainsaw Maintenance and Cross Cutting (or equivalent) which was taken more than 5 years ago
- Those who are occasional users and have the City & Guilds NPTC 2 Award in Chainsaw Maintenance and Cross Cutting (or equivalent) which was taken more than 3 years ago
What are the course objectives?
- State and identify the necessary personal protective equipment required, report on its condition and locate the various standard marks
- State and identify the required health and safety features on a chainsaw
- Identify faults and defects on a chainsaw and cutting equipment, decide those fixable by the operator and those which need a service engineer’s attention
- Select and identify the correct tools to enable maintenance to be carried out
- Prepare the chainsaw for use with the correct fuel/oil mix and chain lubrication
- Start the chainsaw in a safe manner
- Carry out pre-cutting safety tests and note the procedures if these are failed
- State the possible hazards when using the chainsaw
- Cross cut timber to appropriate lengths
- Assess and explain the terms ‘tension’ and ‘compression’ in timber
- Adopt safe procedures to remove a trapped guide bar
- Stack and handle timber in a safe manner
- Organise site safety and state the precautions required
Up to 380mm
- Correctly assess the situation prior to free felling a straight open grown tree up to a maximum of 380mm diameter, with the aid of wedges and/or a felling leaver and enable the tree to fall in a chosen direction
- Remove limbs from a felled tree and cross cut, handle and stack timber in a safe and efficient manner
- Identify types of timber, potential hazards and stresses, correctly assess if timber is in compression or tension and select the appropriate technique to deal with the particular situation
- Take down hung up trees using hand tools
- Recognise situations where specialist help is required