PUA SES – Tree Safety Review

The Australian Council of State and Territory Emergency Services (ACSES) has identified an emerging area of risk to SES volunteers related to the felling and cutting of trees during storm situations. Feedback gathered by member agencies has shown that imported Units of Competency from the Forest and Forest Products (FPI) Training Package within SES qualifications and Skill Set does not adequately address the capability requirement due to the complexity and type of tasks that volunteer members are tasked to perform during an emergency services response, including storm events.

Trees that are damaged during these types of events are often not fully lying on the ground, may be caught within the branches of other trees or are lying across structures and vehicles. In many cases fallen trees in these positions are subject to significant compression forces which are released when using hand tools and chainsaws to fell, cut and release the tree. A range of injuries experienced by SES volunteers has shown that the use of imported Units of Competency does not effectively prepare volunteer members for responding to these types of incidents.

The project will develop three Units of Competency and review and develop one Skill Set aimed at the capability requirements for SES volunteers to safely remove or secure fallen trees.

The Public Safety IRC will have oversight of this project, which will be facilitated by Australian Industry Standards (AIS) in consultation with industry stakeholders. A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will be formed for this project.

Regular updates will be posted on this page throughout the life of the project.

If you have any questions about this project, or are a subject matter expert and would like to be considered for the TAC for this project, please contact the Industry Manager.

Project Deliverables

Up to three Units of Competency to be developed:

• PUASES999X Assess trees for compression forces
• PUASES998X Develop a plan for the management of compression forces
• PUASES997X Use equipment to stabilise and support trees within an incident

One Skill Set to be reviewed and developed:

• PUASS00037 Intermediate Tree Operations