AIE - Subject - AFAG Publications

	AFAG (the Arboriculture and Forestry Advisory Group) is one of three subcommittees which form the AIAC (the Agriculture Industry Advisory Committee) with the other two being the Agricultural Safety Advisory Group (ASAG) and the working group on Health in Agriculture (HIAG). The AIAC reports to the HSC (Health and Safety Commission).
AFAG was set up by the Health and Safety Commission’s AIAC to deal specifically with arboriculture and forestry. Members are from across the forestry and arboriculture industry, with representatives from major industry bodies and organisations. AFAG agreed to take on some of the work that would have disappeared with the loss of the Forestry and Arboriculture Safety and Training Council (FASTCo), in particular to update and replace the series of free FASTCo safety guides. The new AFAG leaflets are designed to give the same practical guidance as the old FASTCo guides but are now revised and updated. The FASTCo numbering system has also been retained, but with the prefix ‘AFAG’ (eg AFAG301), so everyone who was familiar with the old series should be able to easily identify the relevant new leaflet. The old FASTCo website no longer operates.
AFAG have made all their free training guides available on the HSE website for direct viewing. Link to HSE Forestry Leaflet section.
Establishment 102 Pre-planting spraying of container-grown seedlings 103 Planting 104 Fencing 105 Hand-held power posthole borer Maintenance 201 Hand tool weeding, brashing and pruning 202 Application of pesticides by hand-held equipment 203 Clearing saw Chainsaw 301 Using petrol-driven chainsaws 302 Basic chainsaw felling and manual takedown 303 Chainsaw snedding 304 Chainsaw cross-cutting and manual stacking 306 Chainsaw clearance of windblow 307 Chainsaw felling of large trees 308 Top-handled chainsaws 310 Use of winches in directional felling and takedown Work Off Ground 401 Tree-climbing operations 402 Aerial tree rescue 403 Mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs) for tree work Extraction 501 Tractors units in tree work 502 Extraction by skidder 503 Extraction by forwarder 504 Extraction by cable crane 506 Extraction by horse Processing 601 Mobile circular saw bench 602 Mobile peeling machine 603 Mechanical harvesting 604 Wood chippers 605 Mechanical roadside processing 606 Mobile stump grinders Vehicles 701 ATV quad bikes 702 All-terrain vehicles General Safety 802 Emergency planning 804 Electricity at work: Forestry and arboriculture 805 Training and certification
All of the above leaflets can be downloaded from the HSE Forestry Leaflet section. Last update 12/3/04