Well, to be specific, to criminalise chainsaw use by private individuals on their own land unless they have paid for a Lantra-style chainsaw course. Lantra describes itself as the UK and Ireland’s “one-stop-shop for land-based training and careers”. It has a dominant position in regulating training courses for rural skills. Since there are HSE regulations that require businesses to ensure that workers are properly trained, this brings some Lantra qualifications into that mandatory framework – you can face criminal prosecution for employing people to use chainsaws without the proper training. That’s reasonable and we have a long tradition starting with the Factory Acts of requiring safeguards when employment is involved. But now they are seeking to extend this to private individuals.
Back in October they launched their Respect the Chainsaw campaign, firmly aimed at non-professional users. It even includes a jaunty video of a hapless householder using a new mains electric chainsaw in flip-flops and a Hawaiian shirt, being photographed by a nosy neighbour (!) and visited by his chainsaw expert friend. They talk through just how dangerous chainsaws are and they visit a shop to look at protective equipment. At the time it looked pretty good and people do need to take chainsaws seriously and use proper equipment. However, it now seems this was the first part of a more sinister agenda.
Forestry Journal now reports on the launch event of the campaign at Kew Gardens. At it, Clegg Bamber, head of communications at Lantra, set the context
“When it’s sold in the middle aisle of certain supermarkets, or by retailers who don’t explain what a chainsaw really is or the type of machinery you’re buying, that’s where the problem lies”
and then made this admission:
“Currently, in the UK, you only need to be over 18 to buy a chainsaw – and that’s about it! No one checks whether you’re competent to operate it, whether you understand how it works, and there’s certainly no regulation either to enforce that. So, actually, what you are doing is putting yourself in danger by purchasing a chainsaw and then using it with no training. What we’re aiming to do in the UK is make training mandatory for anyone operating a chainsaw. At Lantra, we develop training to help people understand the tools they use”
“Anyone”. That means criminalising private individuals who are using chainsaws on their own land without proof of training, presumably with the courses that Lantra oversees (and therefore gets revenue from.)
Lantra also presented some dodgy statistics in support of their campaign. They have done freedom of information requests to the NHS hospitals in Scotland, Wales, and England and found 3144 people “have attended accident and emergency departments due to a chainsaw related injury in the last 10 years”. But chainsaw accidents at work must be reported to the HSE, and the HSE figure for “injuries and accidents caused by the improper use of chainsaws” in Britain over the last 10 years is “just under 3000”. So that means only about 15 non-work related chainsaw injuries, of any type, requiring hospital treatment per year.
We’ve seen with Woodsure / Ready to Burn how voluntary certification schemes can morph into over regulation if the “non-profit” organisation involved can persuade a naive and/or autocratic government department to grant them a license to print money, by turning “voluntary” into “mandatory” and criminalising anyone who refuses.
Over the years, several colleges and organisations like Smallwoods have run courses to show people how to use chainsaws properly, but without a qualification at the end and without the need to pay Lantra. Some people also learn from friends and family. What Lantra is seeking to do is end all of that by criminalising anyone without an approved qualification for even using their chainsaw on their land. Maybe they even think this will establish a monopoly, with all work done by professionals with an existing Lantra chainsaw ticket? Whatever Lantra’s plan, we cannot let them chip away at our freedoms like this. We need to be ready when they approach the government with their scheme.