These very useful free for download guides, cover the entire spectrum of forestry activities.The guides are produced by Arboriculture and Forestry Advisory Group (AFAG) and HSE Books, and are available from the website of the Forestry Contractors Association of the UK. Each guide is only two pages long but the information is concise and useful. Each guide is broken into short sections that cover areas pertinent to that specific machine or activity. For example, chippers are discussed under the headings of personal protective equipment, the machine itself, selecting the work area, emergency procedures, operating the machine, fuelling, maintenance, and moving the machine. The guides are also structured to serve as check-lists. There are many different guides available. A few guides are listed below as examples under each category:
- Chainsaws – Using petrol driven chainsaws, basic chainsaw felling and takedown, chainsaw crosscutting and manual stacking, chainsaw clearance of wind blow, chainsaw felling of larger trees, and uses of winches in directional felling and takedown.
- Extraction – Tractors, skidders, forwarders, cable cranes, and horses.
- Processing – Mobile peeling machines, mechanical harvesting, wood chippers, mechanical roadside processing, and mobile stump grinders.
- Work off ground – Tree-climbing operations.
- Vehicles – Debogging and recovery of forest machines, and steep slope working in forestry.
- General safety – Emergency planning, and fire fighting.
- Establishment – Four different guides.
- Maintenance – Three different guides.
- Additional information – Guides on specific topics such as power take-offs, and protecting your hearing.