I am the safety officer for a conservation charity and have come up against a bit of a puzzler. In the HSE’s Indg317 Chainsaws at Work” there is the following statement: It is recommended that all chainsaw operators have regular refresher/update training to ensure they work to industry best practice and maintain their levels of competence. The suggested intervals for such training are: • occasional users – every two to three years; • Full-time users – every five years. My question is what is an occasional user? The reason for the question is that due to the requirements of the “Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981” we hang up our chainsaws for the breeding season from the 1st March to 31st Aug. During the remaining months both staff & volunteers carry a Chainsaw with them whilst undertaking habitat work, they may not use it every day but it is with them. Are they occasional users?

Yes, difficult one. Because of the hazardous nature of the work I'd prefer to err on the side of of caution. Personally full time would suggest an arboriculturalist who has to use a chainsaw every day to earn a living. With your work it's more of a task that has to be done occasionally and then only on certain days during 6 months of the year. I suppose you could say it's like riding a bike but riding a bike isn't going to cut through a main artery.

As already suggested, occasional users sound a little too fuzzy for me so I'd go down the line of full-time users for all.

I thought that was what I'd said?

Looking into it, occasional or basic users & professional or more frequent users are defined as: Occasional or basic users: Someone who intends to use a chainsaw but does not intend to work in forestry or arboriculture or fell trees more than 200mm in diameter. Generally these users will be working e.g. in agriculture, landscaping, fencing/hedging, environmental conservation or simple highways maintenance. Professional or more frequent users: Someone working in forestry and arboriculture or carrying out higher risk work, for example felling trees greater than 200mm in diameter, working from a rope and harness or dealing with windblow or hung up trees. http://www.hse.gov.uk/fo...tors/ag_food/1_04_02.pdf