Back in October we did a 4 day company training event. Jose Mercado of Mercado Horticultural Training Service came down from California as our instructor. Jose is an ISA Certified Arborist and Certified Tree Worker, and he is bilingual.
One of the goals of the workshop was to prepare my crew members for the ISA’s Certified Tree Worker tests. The tree worker certification is different from the certified arborist in many ways. For starters, it is much more difficult to get. The experience requirement is less, but the demonstration of knowledge is much, much more. To become a certified arborist you need only to have three years experience and to pass a written test. To become a certified tree worker, you must have 1.5 years experience and pass a written test; plus, pass a skills/climbing test, pass a knot tying test, maintain CPR/first aide certification and obtain aerial rescue training. For more info on this you can visit ISA Texas website.
Our training module started with an 8 hour classroom session covering a variety of topics including general safety practices, personal protective equipment, advanced knot tying, tree biology and more.
Day two we finished up the classroom session for an hour and a half in the morning and then headed out to the trees to do an aerial rescue training session.
On the third day we revisited the aerial rescue training and took the skills exam and knot tying exam for the ISA certified Tree Worker.
The last day we completed a CPR/ first aide certification course and took the ISA certified tree worker written exam.
The event as a whole was a success. I have found that events like this create a safer work environment, higher quality work and above all a more positive work environment. A sign of a good worker is a happy worker. Everybody had smiles on their face the whole way through.
Unfortunately, everybody must retake the written exam. This exam is available is Spanish, but the translation isn’t great. We’ll be inviting Jose back again this spring for round two. Having this first test out of the way, we should be able to overcome the language barrier more effectively and cover more ground on tree science and pruning techniques.