CS31 – 4-day Felling up to 380mm course + Assess – 140726

Written by Michele Holmes Fryett on 23rd January 2025. Posted in Chainsaw, Content, Course availability, Machinery

Tues 14 July – Fri 17 July 2026, Assessment: Sat 18 July 2026

This popular training course runs the candidate through all of the relevant theoretical and practical aspects that are required to pass NPTC Unit 202/39-21 (CS31) and allows successful candidates to fell trees commercially up to 380mm in diameter. The morning of day 1 is workshop-based, covering legislation, risk assessments, basic chainsaw maintenance, the various felling cuts and organising site safety.

**The NPTC pre-requisite for the felling course is NPTC unit 0039-20 – Chainsaw Maint & Cross cutting (also known as CS30 or unit 201) 

To book one of our courses we require a completed booking form, and a deposit to secure the place.  The balance of the course is due 1 week prior to the course start date.  Please complete the online enquiry form below to start this process or call the office for further information.

Course Outline

Course Title: 4-day Felling & Processing Trees up to 380mm course + NPTC Assess – 140726
Start Date: Tues 14 July 2026
End Date: Fri 17 July 2026
Location: Kingswood Training Centre
Places: 4
Places Remaining: 4
Assessment Date:  Sat 18 July 2026
Course Price inc. VAT: £730.00 inc. NPTC Assessment

• Continue Reading

CS31 – 4-day Felling up to 380mm course + Assess – 180826

Written by Michele Holmes Fryett on 17th January 2025. Posted in Chainsaw, Content, Course availability

Tuesday 18 Aug – Friday 21 Aug, Assessment: Saturday 22 August

This popular training course runs the candidate through all of the relevant theoretical and practical aspects that are required to pass NPTC Unit 202/39-21 (CS31) and allows successful candidates to fell trees commercially up to 380mm in diameter. The morning of day 1 is workshop-based, covering legislation, risk assessments, basic chainsaw maintenance, the various felling cuts and organising site safety.

**The NPTC pre-requisite for the felling course is NPTC unit 0039-20 – Chainsaw Maint & Cross cutting (also known as CS30 or unit 201) 

To book one of our courses we require a completed booking form, and a deposit to secure the place.  The balance of the course is due 1 week prior to the course start date.  Please complete the online enquiry form below to start this process or call the office for further information.

Course Outline

Course Title: 4-day Felling & Processing Trees up to 380mm course + NPTC Assess – 180826
Start Date: Tuesday 18 August 2026
End Date: Friday 21 August 2026
Location: Kingswood Training Centre
Places: 4
Places Remaining: 4 places
Assessment Date:  Saturday 22 August 2026
Course Price inc. VAT: £730 inc. NPTC Assessment

• Continue Reading

CS39 – Using a Chainsaw from a Rope and Harness – 110826

Written by Michele Holmes Fryett on 17th January 2025. Posted in Chainsaw, Climbing, Content, Course availability

Tues 11 Aug – Thurs 13 Aug 2026, Assess: Fri 14 August 2026 (TBC)

Our 3-day training course, plus 1-day NPTC Assessment, covers specialist cutting techniques for using saws up trees. CS39 – NPTC Unit 204 – is accepted by the HSE as evidence of suitable training and competence for a professional arborist who operates chainsaws and performs aerial tree-work operations.

Prerequisites:

NPTC Units: 201:Chainsaw maintenance and cross-cutting (CS30)

NPTC Unit 202: Tree felling and processing (CS31)

NPTC Units: 203: Tree climbing and Aerial Rescue Operations (CS38)

This course is for people who work as Tree surgeons, Arborists. The course provides the knowledge and skill requirements for candidates to be assessed for City & Guilds (NPTC) regulated qualification (QCF). The course lasts 3 consecutive days followed by a 1-day independent City & Guilds NPTC assessment. Candidates are taught in both a workshop and a local woodland environment.

To book one of our courses we require a completed booking form, and a deposit to secure the place.  The balance of the course is due 1 week prior to the course start date.  Please complete the online enquiry form below to start this process or call the office for further information.

Course Outline

Course Title: Using a Chainsaw from a Rope and Harness – CS39 110826
Start Date: Tues 11 Aug 2026
End Date: Thurs 13 Aug 2026
Location: Kingswood Training Centre – Sevenoaks, Kent
Places: 4
Places Remaining: 4 spaces
Assessment Date: Fri 14 Aug 2026 (TBC)
Course Total Price inc. VAT: £730.00

• Continue Reading

CS40 Aerial Tree Pruning – 020726

Written by Michele Holmes Fryett on 17th January 2025. Posted in Chainsaw, Climbing, Content, Course availability

Aerial Tree Pruning – Thurs 02 July – Fri 03 July 2026  Assess **TBC** Sat 04 July or Mon 06 July 2026  – CS40 020726

This Aerial Tree Pruning course (formerly CS4o) is run over 2 days and is for experienced arborists, this course prepares the candidate for the NPTC assessment (003931). Candidates are expected to remove branches, climb a pole on spikes and remove several sections – some thrown, some pushed off on a hinge, and some roped down.

Please see the Course Outline link below for further information about this course. 

To book one of our courses we require a completed booking form, and a deposit to secure the place.  The balance of the course is due 1 week prior to the course start date.  Please complete the online enquiry form below to start this process or call the office for further information.

Course Outline

Course Title: CS40 Aerial Tree Pruning – CS40 020726
Start Date: Thurs 02 July 2026
End Date: Fri 03 July 2026
Location: Kingswood Training Centre
Places: 4
Places Remaining: 3 spaces
Assessment Date:  ***TBC*** Sat 04 July or Mon 06 July 2026 
Course Price inc. VAT : £600.00 inc NPTC Assess per candidate

• Continue Reading

CS41 Aerial Tree Rigging – 130726

Written by Michele Holmes Fryett on 28th August 2024. Posted in Chainsaw, Climbing, Course availability

Monday 13 – Wednesday 15 July 2026, Assessment: date TBC

This Aerial Tree Rigging course (formerly CS41) is run over 3 days and is for experienced arborists, this course prepares the candidate for the NPTC assessment (003932). Candidates are expected to remove branches, climb a pole on spikes and remove several sections – some thrown, some pushed off on a hinge, and some roped down.

Please see the Course Outline link below for further information about this course. 

To book one of our courses we require a completed booking form, and a deposit to secure the place.  The balance of the course is due 1 week prior to the course start date.  Please complete the online enquiry form below to start this process or call the office for further information.

Course Outline

Course Title: CS41 Aerial Tree Rigging – CS41 130726
Start Date: Mon 13 July 2026
End Date: Wed 15 July 2026
Location: Kingswood Training Centre
Places: 4
Places Remaining: 4 places
Assessment Date: TBC 
Course Total Price inc. VAT and NPTC Assess: £700.00 per candidate

• Continue Reading

Lantra Professional Tree Inspection Course – PTI 270726

Written by Michele Holmes on 1st August 2024. Posted in Content, Course availability, Tree Inspection

Monday 27 – Wednesday 29 July 2026

This is a 3-day Professional Tree Inspection Training Course including Integrated Lantra Assessment. 

Prospective learners should be experienced and qualified arboriculturists with an in-depth knowledge of plant and arboricultural science, including thorough knowledge of wood-decaying fungi, identification and interpretation of signs and symptoms of ill health, and structural failure across a wide range of tree species and circumstances.

They should be thoroughly experienced in carrying out tree inspections and surveys. People professionally involved in arboriculture – specifically tree inspection.

To book one of our courses we require a completed booking form, and a deposit to secure the place.  The balance of the course is due 1 week prior to the course start date.  Please complete the online enquiry form below to start this process or call the office for further information.

Course Outline

Course Title: Lantra Professional Tree Inspection – PTI 270726
Start Date: Mon 27 July 2026
End Date:  Wed 29 July 2026
Location: Kingswood Training Centre – Sevenoaks, Kent
Places: 10 places
Places Remaining: 10 places
Course Total Price inc. VAT: £650.00

• Continue Reading

Two Rope working update….

Written by Michele Holmes Fryett on 5th December 2019. Posted in Climbing

Kingswood Training is a Lantra Training provider offering City & Guilds NPTC Assessments.  We will be complying with both Lantra and City & Guilds and will be incorporating the updates into our training and assessments as soon as they are available.

Please see link below to the Arb Association recent update on Two Rope Working.  

https://www.trees.org.uk/News-Blog/Latest-News/Two-rope-working-%E2%80%93-an-update

Arb Association Article………..

Author:  Simon Richmond, AA

  27/11/2019

Last Updated:  28/11/2019

Simon Richmond, Senior Technical Officer

Following the announcement in the Autumn issue of the ARB Magazine (issue 186, page 7) that the HSE is now requiring full compliance with the Work at Height Regulations in relation to tree climbing operations, there has been much discussion and debate.

The relevant section of the Regulations is Schedule 5, which addresses requirements for personal fall protection systems. See www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/735/schedule/5. The HSE has observed that some aspects of these requirements have been largely ignored by many climbing arborists, and that current training and assessment standards do not adequately address these issues.

The HSE has provided details of reported fall from height accidents for a one-year period, which can be viewed on the AA’s website: www.trees.org.uk/2ropes-incidents. The background to this wider issue can be viewed here: www.trees.org.uk/2ropes.

The Association has been in discussion with many other organisations, businesses and individuals over the past few months to ensure that, as a sector, we are taking a proportionate and practical position in response to this development in HSE policy.

One of the most urgent concerns of many people is that HSE is reminding us that as these Regulations are current (and have been in force since 2005), all operators should be compliant immediately. While the HSE does not intend to focus particularly on our industry in terms of its inspectors’ activity, it has stated that in any investigation following an incident involving tree climbing, it would expect employers and the self-employed to be compliant with the Regulations.

This creates a period of insecurity for our sector, as we do not yet have detailed industry guidance in place to help practitioners accurately interpret the requirements in order to be compliant and to make informed practical decisions in planning and carrying out their daily work.

Working with our colleagues and other stakeholders we have developed a timetable for introducing the required guidance.

Implementing changes to tree climbing guidance: use of two climbing lines

‌	Objective	Completed by
1	Devise and agree basic, principal guidelines for climbing using two lines – to be disseminated to training instructors and the wider industry.	November 2019
2	Revise and update the Industry Code of Practice for Arboriculture – Tree Work at Height (ICoP) – Principal guidelines for the ‘Responsible person’ and ‘Competent person’.	January 2020
3	Revise existing draft of the forthcoming AA Technical Guide: Tree Climbing and Aerial Rescue (TG1) – Including detailed, practical guidance on the implementation of the use of two lines.	March 2020
4	Integration of TG1 guidance into national training content.	Spring 2020
5	Integration of TG1 guidance into national assessment standards.	Spring 2020

The work on revision of the ICoP is progressing well and the HSE has agreed that the following hierarchical approach should form the basis of planning tree climbing work at height:

 

These principles will apply to all tree climbing operations and offer a planned approach, subject to any detailed decision making if points 1 or 2 are not possible. It is anticipated that situations where the use of a single fall protection system is compliant will be rare and of short duration. At this stage the emphasis is on all fall protection systems, regardless of whether they incorporate doubled/moving rope technique (MRT) or stationary rope technique (SRT) or a combination of the two.

Basic practical guidance

At a recent meeting of Lantra Awards Aerial Tree Work Verifiers, a basic set of practical guidance was agreed which has been disseminated to registered instructors to provide initial direction for training that is being delivered currently. There will be further workshop sessions for instructors, but it is recognised that until the full and comprehensive guidance is published in the forthcoming AA Technical Guide, there remains a gap in detailed provision.

Access

1. Rope Advance System

• Have 3 viable systems prior to leaving the ground (2 climbing lines, 1 lanyard). Install systems 1 & 2 (2 climbing lines) from ground. Test each system. Ascend to first anchor.
• Maintain 2 climbing systems at all times
• Repeat to final anchor point.

2. Throw Line

• Install 2 separate climbing systems and if possible do so on independent anchors. Test systems independently. Ascend.

Working in the tree

• Select 2 separate load-bearing anchors where possible and install 2 separate climbing systems. Test systems independently.
• Work using 2 independent climbing systems.

Descent

Both primary and secondary working systems should be long enough to descend to the ground.

Rescue

A single line system may be acceptable in a rescue situation.

Frequently asked questions

We have been fielding queries on this topic for a few weeks now and will keep this list and the Two-Rope Help and Advice web page updated to provide answers – here are some examples of the most common questions:

FAQs
1.	Q: What happens in aerial rescue situations when 2-rope makes rescue more difficult?
	A: It is acceptable to perform aerial rescue from one personal fall protection system.
2.	Q: Will there be a list of scenarios where 2 rope exemptions could apply? E.g. if you are able to rule it out categorically in risk assessment
	A: It is unlikely industry guidance will be able to provide specific scenarios, due to the variation of canopy structures within which arborists work. Guidance will be written to inform operators as to the factors they must consider prior to single line working.
3.	Q: I think HSE’s interpretation of the law is wrong. Why can’t we lobby them to change the law?
	A: As part of the process of working with the HSE over the last six months, the AA have continually questioned their (HSE) interpretation and will continue to do so where relevant.
4.	Q: To what extent will contractors be held accountable in the period until training and full detailed guidance has been made available?
	A: HSE have stated that the Regulations apply now, and therefore employers and the self-employed should be complying with them.
5.	Q: What face-to-face training and other resources will be available?
	A: Resources are to include: Revised Industry Code of Practice (ICoP: Tree Work at Height); Technical Guide 1: Tree climbing and aerial rescue; Lantra Awards have adjusted their tree climbing training, which also includes their refresher provision; The AA intend to run update/information seminars or workshops in Spring 2020.
6.	Q: Will a draft of the updated guidance be made available to have a look at prior to it being finalised?
	A: Yes, an industry consultation on the Technical Guide will be held once the draft is ready.
7.	Q: Is the Arb Association going to support contractors / advise industry that work will take longer on 2 ropes and costs will be higher and there will be additional training costs to get everyone up to date?
	A: It is acknowledged that this change may mean that work takes longer and this in turn may result in higher costs for compliant contractors. The AA will support the industry in promoting the higher professionalism that this brings.
8.	Q: Will reasons for briefly not using 2 rope system be required to be written on risk assessment or will verbal risk assess be ok?
	A: In accordance with current legislation, where the employer employs five or more employees, the significant findings of the risk assessment must be recorded. It would therefore be anticipated that common factor or generic risk assessment may identify the circumstances when a single personal fall protection may be used.
9.	Q: Why is the Arb Association implementing this?
	A: This change in practical guidance and support from the Arb Association has come as a direct result the HSE’s insistence that the industry has not been fully compliant with the Work at Height (WaH) Regulations to date.
10.	Q: Why, if we have always used a 1 rope system, is this now not considered safe?
	A: The view of the HSE is that, given the number of falls from height in our sector (of climbing arborists), our current guidance and the standards we have been working to can be improved. The HSE have also stated the use of a single personal fall protection system as the norm during tree climbing operations does not meet the requirements of the WaH Regulations.
11.	Q: Will both ends of the same rope suffice or does it need to be 2 separate ropes?
	A: This point does require further discussion with the HSE to determine the standard they would expect to see and whether such systems would be practical to adopt. It is likely that under certain circumstances the use of the same rope to create two separate load bearing anchor points will be acceptable.
12.	Q: I do not feel this is a safer system so can I always risk assess to not use it?
	A: When using a work positioning system (moving rope techniques) and it is not reasonably practicable to include a backup as part of your system then a single system may be used. When using a rope access system (stationary rope systems) and the use of a second line would entail higher risk then a single system may be used.
13.	Q: Will both ropes have to reach the ground?
	A: New technical guide has been drafted stating that at least one of the systems in use by the operator must be capable of providing an uninterrupted descent to the ground (i.e. without the need for a change of anchor) from any point within the canopy in the event of a self-rescue being required. During descent under normal climbing conditions, the climber will need to ensure that they remain connected to two systems for the duration of their descent.
14.	Q: When will there be set definitions, that won’t change, of such things as stationary rope work positioning, moving rope work positioning etc?
	A: These definitions will be developed as part of the revision of the ICoP and the new Technical Guide.
15.	Q: In a self-rescue situation can one rope be disconnected to allow one handed descent?
	A: It is acceptable to resort to a single personal fall protection system in an aerial rescue.
16.	Q: As a contractor when should we be putting this new system in place?
	A: The principle of using two separate load bearing anchor points should be in place immediately.

 

• Continue Reading