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Presumably the role of trainers and assessors is to equip aspiring arborists with the skills their prospective employers will be looking for.
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Your right there Nailer. But with so much legislation employers can't keep up and aren't sure what they should be looking for. They expect their employees to be shown the way on training courses, to feed back to the company. With the Work at Height regulations, solutions aren't being fed back into the field (because of no guidance from the Sector Skills Council), and when they are, they aren't always appreciated, because employers don't always want to accept change, regardless of risks of prosecution.
In effect, the industry has its head in the sand, pretending the risk of prosecution isn't there, or can be explained away by risk assessment - well my take on that is, however clever we think we are, a good barrister can make us look pretty stupid pretty quick if any holes are left in the justification.
An HSE objective for 2008 is to cold call on arborists and see what they are doing about controlling risks under the WAHR05 and LOLER98.
There are simple and effective ways of working within the WAHR05. Just takes a bit of thought.
The Sector Skills Council report on skills needs in the industry, also found that the trees and timber industry is in real trouble; employers can't find the skills required at any level from craftsman to management, because the training and education system is failing them. Thats right, they indirectly criticised their own training arm as ineffective???
Many employers are now undertaking their own in house training systems, to stop the 'ticket trade' and in effect instill their own apprenticeships to see some return on their employee investment. Thats a wise move (with the proper advice). It means training is specific to the tools, techniques and equipment of the company - much more specific and effective.
