ISA HK/China --- Chainsaw Training (Ground Operation) in June, 2008

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/ , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

By now, anyone in our Station would have understood the power & danger in operating chainsaws to carry out pruning &/or removing trees. Yet in HK, hardly any institute would offer his kind of training to the private sector. On the other hand, it is our private sector most frequently using chainsaws day in day out in contracting work & routine maintenance.

It is understood by this Station that hardly any landscape worker in our territory, be they woman or senile, has the opportunity to receive proper chainsaw training in accordance with international practice in operating this high speed cutting machine. Then when accident would happen, the incident would hardly came out big in the media & would be classified as an ordinary industrial accident in the injury categories.

In view of this, TCHK (http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/treeclimbinghk) had gathered resources locally to open up the first chainsaw training for our private sector in HK on 25.5.08. It was tested to be a genuine success with first timers & experienced workers, reviewing their practice & knowledge in accordance with international practices. In the longer run, this will save them perils to stay long & healthy in the industry.

TCHK is now planning to offer the 2nd chainsaw training to its members as well as to the public with information attached. In this round, it is designed to target landscape workers & their supervisors, or anybody interested to learn chainsaw from scratch. The training is suitable for anyone who can speak Cantonese & it is in most parts practical work in the field rather than power point in the classroom. It is aimed to train someone to operate this dangerous tool in the field rather than just talk, talk & talk.

Since the training session can only accommodate 15 candidates (Tutor to student ratio is 1 : 5 for safety reason), it is likely to run full very soon. TCHK is currently the only institute locally which can provide training of this kind to our private sector, & there must be hundreds of workers requiring to operate chainsaw in our landscape industry on a regular basis. In accordance with OSHC laws of HK (CAP 509), every employer is required to provide suitable training & equipment for their workers to carry out a designated duty. This Ordinance would cover chainsaw & any violation is liable with insurance discharge & penalty by Dept of Labour.

For work safety & efficiency, investing time & money for chainsaw training is absolutely necessary. Typhoon season is here & there will be fallen trees requiring chainsaw cutting. Accidents would likely to follow if no training is to be provided. Legal action may follow after that. Therefore, why not prevent it before happening?

A Certificate of Attendance will be issued by TCHK to any candidate completed the training. This Certificate can be shown to Site Safety Officers for acknowledging appropriate training has been given to the candidate in operating a chainsaw on ground in accordance with international practice. It is also an evidence in Court by employer that appropriate training has been provided to staff to use chainsaw in the event of an accident.

TCHK looks forward to help our landscape industry by filling in vacuum with offering local training in arboriculture, starting from tree climbing & chainsaw.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (http://www.isa-arbor.com/)

攀爬一族 基礎鏈鋸訓練班 (地上用鋸) 通告

各位親愛嘅族人同埋社會大眾：

本族繼5月25日成功舉辦‘基礎鏈鋸訓練班’之後，其後不斷收到查詢，問幾時再會開班。雖知係本港林林種種嘅所謂‘職業安全訓練班’裡面，乜野都話要去上堂考證書，但唯獨鏈鋸一種咁高危嘅搵食工具反而係無人去教（見圖），你地話搞唔搞笑.

以香港日日都有幾百人係全港各地做綠化護飬嚟計，全港每日至少可能有幾十把鏈鋸係度用緊，而當中又有幾多个操作人員係受過正統訓練丫？咁唔通鏈鋸就唔危險？梗係唔係喇，只不過勞工處無專項統計，而傳媒又唔重視，有受傷嘅就當係一般工業意外處理，無手指腳指咪叫保險公司照賠蘿，係個工人唔好彩之嘛。

其實罧都罧到，一把鏈鋸一分鐘轉成萬下，點到邊度就切到邊度，而條切割鏈往往離開身体部份最多一呎，中招嘅机會可以話大過中‘六合彩’幾千倍，反而唔中招果個先至係高手。係西方國家，絕無可能好似香港咁係工人都可以唔使學就去操作鏈鋸，唔係嘅話中左招果陣，個老板就可能要罰到破產兼夾坐監，唔會好似香港咁落後咁而凈係賠錢就算數嫁。

但係香港果D所謂‘職安机構’，滿口‘工業安全’，而一提到爬樹同埋操作鏈鋸，佢地就保持沈默，有D重話修樹果陣重一定要搭棚，而七成嘅樹會跌死人添 ... 唉，你地話失唔失禮死人丫！佢地夠膽係自己人面前聲大氣粗，但係又敢唔敢係洋人面前照唱爽口丫？

有見及此，本族依家決定再舉辦一班地上用鋸班（搞清楚唔係樹上用鋸阿！！樹上用鋸要識爬樹嫁），詳情如下：

日期：星期日2008年6月29日

時間：9am – 4:30pm

地点：上水鳳溪中學大草地

人數：15人

導師：歐永森、吳志雄、李國文

費用：HK$1000/人（族人）或HK$1100/人（非族人）

指導標準：ANSI Z133.1（2006）

課程內容：

1. 為何要使用鏈鋸去進行切割樹木？
2. 鏈鋸的種類及選用方法
3. 如何購買質量好的鏈鋸？
4. 鏈鋸使用前需要注意的地方 ---- 添加燃料、添加鏈油，檢查風、油格及火咀，檢查鏈剎及切割鏈鬆緊度、等等
5. 鏈鋸起動前必須穿戴的个人防護裝備（PPE）
6. 鏈鋸起動方法及制動方法
7. 切割前現場檢查及風險評估
8. 基礎地上切割技術及安全 ---- 直、橫、背切、跳鋸、夾鋸、等等
9. 平地及斜坡上切割技術
10. 鏈鋸搬運及儲存

目標學員：日常操作鏈鋸的園藝工人，需要現場監工的管理級人員，地盤安全監督人員，任何對使用鏈鋸有興趣人士。

教導語言：廣東話

報名方法：請與李國文副族長聯絡，電話 81000895 ，電郵：lkman@netvigator.com

教埋依一班之後，可能有牌都唔再開同類型嘅班，因為其他事忙呀。所以，各位有興趣嘅人士，敬請及早報名，額滿即止，專請留意。

此致

攀爬一族 族長
歐永森
敬啟

ISA HK/China --- Announcement of CTW exam on July 1, 2008

Dear Station Members,

It is the pleasure of ISA HK/China to announce that an ISA Certified Tree Worker (CTW) Exam will be arranged in our region of HK, Macau, Taiwan & China as follows:

CTW Exam :

Date: Tuesday July 1, 2008

Time: 8 am - 5 pm

Venue: Student Activities Room & Sports Ground, Fung Kai No. 1 Secondary School, 17 Sheung Shui Jockey Club Road, Sheung Shui, Hong Kong

Maximum number of seats : 20 candidates for the written exam, 12 candidates for the climbing skills test, on a first come first served basis.


Deadline of Application : June 6, 2008 (All Candidates MUST apply on-line to ISA HQ at www.isa-arbor.com . Those who are re-taking the exam must follow the instructions stated in the ISA exam result letter).


Please kindly note the exam may be cancelled or postponed for unforeseen events such as the hoisting of typhoon signal no. 8 or higher, Black Rainstorm Signal in force, or for any other reason. The candidate can always call the Station Manager at 9090 6719 on the exam day to make sure, if in doubt. Please kindly note ISA exams in the HK/China Region are run by volunteers without pay at their own time & expenses for the benefits of Station Members & public. Please understand their limitation & have pity on them.

For those of you who are not yet ISA HK/China Station Members, we encourage you to join us for update in local tree affairs & ISA activities including exams & training in our region of HK,Macau, Taiwan & China. ISA HK/China organizes activities qualified for CEU after you have become a CA & CTW. CA & CTW are valid for 3 years & all CA/CTW will need to collect enough CEU during this period to renew their credential. Alternatively, you may wish to visit our Blog of http://isahkchina.blogspot.com or http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/treeclimbinghk for additional information.

Thank you for your kind attention.

best regards,

Sammy Au
ISA HK/China Station Manager
ISA Chief Proctor for the HK/China Region

ISA HK/China --- Visit of ISA Directors on May 1 - 3, 2008

*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

The visit by ISA Certification Director Mr. Derek Vannice, ISA Membership Director Mr. Eric Duchinsky & ISA Certification Board Member Mr. David Glenn from May 1 - 3, 2008 to ISA HK/China has been like whirlwind. During their 3 days of stay, a meeting with CA family Members, a CA exam, a CTW Evaluator Training, a CTW exam & an Informal Dinner held in their honour have taken place. Anyone can imagine how busy their schedules were in HK for the benefit of ISA development in our region.

Summarizing their visit, there are two major points of discussion that ISA HK/China would like to put forward to our Station Members for public participation:

1. Setting up a Board of Directors in ISA HK/China

As all Station Members have known for years, ISA HK/China did not have much of a staff structure & the Station Manager has been Jack of All Trades in the Station. This may work when our Station is small, but as we expand (+620 Station Members by now & growing), we need to consider better organization.

Discussion has taken place among CA Family Members with ISA Directors on how to formalize a proper structure in ISA HK/China, e.g. with President, Board Members, Committees, etc. so that workload can be shared & positive progress can be made. A time span of 1 year was proposed to set up this structure. However, no conclusion has been reached on how to bring in Board Members, such as by election with an Annual General Meeting or by nomination from Station Manager to be approved by public voting. Each has its own merits & careful consideration will take place within the next 12 months to agree on a strategy.

It is paramount in our future structure that SIA HK/China can maintain its present course of promoting tree care by research & education only, & not turned into an Activist Group or an attachment to any political or religious party. It has been agreed with ISA Directors that Station Membership like it is now, will not be publicly disclosed no matter how the future structure will become, to be in line with the open promise to anyone joining ISA HK/China that Station Membership will be guarded by the Station Manager alone. Successive Station Manager will hold Station Membership & this person must continue to safeguard Station Membership as an oath. On the other hand, anyone communicating with future staff of ISA HK/China will naturally link up with that particular channel in a natural way & be known.

Even in the meeting with ISA Directors on May 1, Station Membership was not disclosed by names, but only by categories. No one's personal information has so far been leaked.

Therefore, ISA HK/China now is keen to look for suitable candidates to fill our future posts, no matter how they may turn out to be. We are looking for personnel who can keenly participate into our activities & development, & not someone collecting title & sit back. This has been the ISA tradition. ISA HK/China will follow the 84 years of ISA history in forming our future structure, & will refer to the laws & constitution of ISA for our own development.

2. Future ISA Exams

People in our territory appear to love exams & credentials, partly out of tradition & partly out of habit. ISA HK/China will do our best to accommodate that.

We are now looking at ways to increase our CA exam from 2 regular one to perhaps 3 this year. For CTW exam, we are hoping to increase from the present 2 to 4 in a year, & increase the number of intake every time. In doing this, we shall need more Proctors & Evaluators. As certification runs independently from Station administration, the Chief Proctor in our territory is setting a very high standard to recruit our Proctors & Evaluators. We shall need someone actively participating in our activities as a priority, rather than someone with merely academic qualification or social influence. Our Proctors & Evaluators must also demonstrate a higher standard of Integrity & good Moral to maintain exam security & independence at all times. The Chief Proctor will be responsible to select these good men & women in our territory, before passing them over to ISA HQ for final approval.


ISA Directors have been generally satisfied with the development of ISA HK/China in the past 3 years. ISA HK/China is also constantly evolving & advancing to gradual recognition in our Govt & public sectors. In our development, ISA HK/China wishes to remember the words of our HK Senior Mr. Li Ka Shing that we should " maintain stability in our development, & maintain development in our stability". This appears to be the correct path to go.

Wise men have gone through our track & can advise. Then should we not listen?

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

The ISA Mission - Through research, technology, and education, promote the professional practice of arboriculture and foster a greater public awareness of the benefits of trees. (http://www.isa-arbor.com/)

ISA HK/China --- Absence of Sammy Au in HK from Apr 17 - 19, 2008

Dear Station Members,

Please kindly note the Station Manager will be absent in HK from Apr 17 - 19, 2008 inclusive. He will be conducting a Nursery Stocks Standards & Structural Pruning Workshop at the National Parks Boards of the Singapore Govt (Nparks) for their local & South East Asian nurserymen & landscapers during this period in Singapore.

For anyone trying to catch the Station Manager for anything (exam, training, tree inspection, risk assessment, research, conferences, tree climbing, ETF trees, overseas liaison, legal advice, tree news, etc.), please try to contact him before his departure, or after. During his stay in Singapore, maybe the only way to find him is through e-mail & that's unlikely to be during day time.

Thank you for your kind attention & understanding on this notice.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager