Staying up to Date

Best practice, supported by the Health and Safety Executive, suggests that we should refresh our training every five years to ensure that we are staying up to date with new ways of doing things and don’t become complacent about safety standards.

We fully support regular refresher training.  Some evidence we have seen amongst doctors and pilots (both professions which carry a great deal of risk management) suggests that as we get older and even more experienced, we risk becoming complacent about our skills and capabilities.

A day away from the operational routine is a great way to bring everyone’s attention back to the essential basics of working safely in what can be, most days, a pretty dangerous environment.

But how do we achieve that as a small business which relies on a strong commercial focus to survive?  The idea that we could send everyone on the team back through the full range of City and Guilds qualifications they hold is not viable from neither the time nor the cost perspective.

So instead, we use a very practical approach.

On a regular basis we find time to practice procedures that we don’t have to use very often (thankfully), like rescuing a climber from tree, or practicing first aid protocols such as CPR or managing cut wounds.  At our quarterly team meetings, we sometimes incorporate a Toolbox Talk, led by a recently qualified team member, on an aspect of safety.  The next one we have planned will cover a refresher discussion amongst the whole team on the safe use of the wood chipper.

Most recently, we organised a practical, two-day rigging and climbing refresher workshop for our whole team with our external trainers,  Nothing like getting out there and doing it to reflect on, check and test that we’re as skilled and safe as we can be.

For advice or a quote on your trees, please call Ian on 0113 2320495 07782251881 or email him at ian@ic-s.org.uk