A joint venture between UKFPA and Barony College, the training initiative was set up as a pilot to see how the sector could tackle concerns regarding a shortage of skilled forest machine operators, with members of the association’s Harvesting and Contracting sub-committee taking a trip to the Forest of Ae in Scotland to see the trainees at work as they reached the halfway mark on the course.
“A lot of hard work has gone into the development and delivery of this course and we are very pleased to see it up and running,” said UKFPA executive director David Sulman. “The opportunity to see the trainees at work on a harvesting site was very useful and we were encouraged by what we heard from both the staff and the trainees.”
It is hoped that the intensive course will prove a success with the four industry trainees and result in a permanent training scheme being launched.
