EFESC held its first Lead Verifier Workshop 16-18 November 2021 in Ossiach, Austria. Subsequent to a hybrid Standards Committee Meeting the Verifiers and Lead Verifiers of each partner country met for some practical exercises.
Centrepiece of the workshop were assessment simulations for mutual learning and harmonisation in standards implementation. Participants took on various roles, from candidate through to assessor and verifier in order to discuss approaches to evaluation and communication.
The Occupational Safety and Health Agency (EU-OSHA), the European Union information agency for occupational safety and health, has recently conducted a study on the future of agriculture and forestry with a focus on persisting and emerging occupational and health risks. Following the study, OSHA has also published a policy brief in march 2021 on this very timely topic. There it highlights that chainsaw work still constitutes “the most significant risk in forestry”. EFESC and its European Chainsaw Certificate, however, are mentioned as a good example for addressing this persistent risk though better and standardised qualification.
The EFESC Executive Committee will hold an online Q&A session for organizations or institutions in Europe interested in learning more about the European Chainsaw Certificate (ECC) and/or in joining EFESC.
The event will take place on 26 May 2021, 09:00-10:30h. The meeting language is English.
If you would like to participate, please send an email to: jessica.schmidt@kwf-online.de until 19 May 2021.
EFESC did not get bogged down by lockdowns and travel restrictions in the face of the COVID 10-pandemic. Instead the organisation took this as an opportunity to be creative and try out new forms of communication.
After a test round of video conferences with every National Agency in spring, the Executive Committee decided to hold this year’s General Assembly online. It took place on 16 June 2020. This format required new ways of preparation and interaction. In order to pass a vote on the budget and trademark regulations as well as on new and amended documents drafted by the Standard Committee all participants had the opportunity to send the comments in advance. Interventions during the meeting were made by using the chat function and moderated by a chat moderator.
In addition to the official part, each National Agency gave a short presentation on the question which aspects they considered most important for EFESC and for their own organisation in the coming year. Digital training methods as well as the onboarding of new assessment centres were among the issues and tasks presented. To round up the meeting, the ERASMUS+ funded project EDUTrainers was presented. As the programme focuses on soft and communicative skills of trainers working in forestry using e-learning methods this sparked a great interest in participants.
Although it was a new and unusual format for everyone, the online assembly was very productive and efficient. Therefore, thanks to the willingness al all participants to adapt to this new way of meeting, the impossibility to hold the General Assembly as usual, in the end, turned into a very successful event.
The 2019 General Assembly took place in Gross-Umstadt, Germany. It was hosted by the Kuratorium fuer Waldarbeit und Forsttechnik e.V. (KWF e.V.) which is also the seat of the German National Agency and, most recently, the official EFESC secretariat.
Once again more than 30 delegates from ten different countries all over Europe attended the two-day-meeting.
It became clear that the European Chainsaw Certificates (ECC) based on the European Chainsaw Standards (ECS) are growing in importance throughout Europe. In 2018 EFESC has welcomed Romania as a new National Agency and several new ordinary and extraordinary members have joined.
This year the General Assembly was therefore held under the banner of EFESC’s transition from project to full-fledged organization. EFESC has now established an official secretariat based at KWF e.V, Germany. As part of its transition, EFESC is also developing and implementing an ever more rigorous quality insurance system.
As EFESC is advancing so are training and assessment methods. Several members have presented vocational training projects that integrate digital and virtual reality tools into forestry training.
The EFESC General assembly took place in Arnhem, the Netherlands. The hosting organization was IPC Groene Ruimte, the largest education centre in the Netherlands for the whole green sector.
More than 30 delegates from 11 European countries show that EFESC is finding more and more acceptance all over Europe.
As new extraordinary member the German Agricultural Assurance Association (SVFLG) with more than 1 Million Members and the participation of delegates from Greece underline again the growing importance of professional standards all over Europe.
Main topic was the further training of assessors with more than 20 participants where practical tests were demonstrated and discussed.
Furthermore a specialist from the world´s leading Swiss auditing company SGS trained the EFESC auditors about new methods in auditing.
