Aerial rescue courses and units by country: what the awarding bodies list

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It lists what the awarding bodies print about their own courses and units. It is not an endorsement of any course or provider, and it carries no course prices. What the rules ask of a crew is on the guide to aerial rescue and what the rules ask. The UK handbooks are read in full on the pages for the City and Guilds climbing and rescue award and the Lantra aerial awards. Canada has no national rescue course in the sources read for this page.

The courses and units side by side

Country and course or unit	As published
United States: Tree Climber Specialist 3: Climbing Aerial Rescue (TCIA)	Online learning with on-the-job demonstrations. 2 ISA and 2 CTSP units. No entry rule printed.
United States: Aerial Lift Operations 2: Aerial Lift Rescue (TCIA)	Online learning with on-the-job demonstrations. 1.25 ISA and 1.25 CTSP units. No entry rule printed.
United Kingdom: Level 2 Certificate of Competence in Climbing Trees and Aerial Rescue, 0039-22 (City and Guilds)	Number 603/7355/6. 40 learning hours, 44 total. Ages 16 or above. Met or not met.
United Kingdom: Level 3 Award in Access a Tree Using a Rope and Harness and Aerial Rescue (Lantra Awards)	Number 610/6135/9. 5 credits, 42 learning hours, 49 total. No entry rule; not for under 16. Pass or fail.
New Zealand: Unit standard 31185 version 3, climbing and one-person aerial rescue (NZQA)	Level 4, 10 credits. First aid certificate held before the rescue.
Australia: AHCARB318 Undertake aerial rescue (training.gov.au)	Release 2 names a first aid unit and a climbing unit as prerequisites. No licensing, legislative or certification requirement applies, as the unit states.
Canada: No national course or unit in the sources read	Not published

United States: two TCIA courses

The Tree Care Industry Association lists its Tree Care Academy courses on its education page, in groups. Tree Climber Specialist has four courses, and number 3 is Climbing Aerial Rescue. Aerial Lift Operations has two, and number 2 is Aerial Lift Rescue. TCIA's Tree Climber Specialist page describes course 3 as designed to give climbers aerial rescue best practices and techniques. Its topics, in our wording, are:

the rules and safety standards that apply to aerial rescue;
preparing for and responding to an emergency;
the protocol for a rescue;
hazards and precautions in a rescue;
aerial rescue techniques;
first aid and working with emergency medical services.

The page says the course blends online learning with on-the-job skills demonstrations and that a certificate follows successful completion. It also lists a Spanish version.

On the Aerial Lift Operations page TCIA describes course 2 as designed to give workers aerial lift rescue safety knowledge and best practices. Its headings cover emergency response, the rescue protocol, precautions, techniques and first aid. It uses the same blend of online learning and on-the-job demonstrations. TCIA prices both courses on the same pages; this page does not repeat them.

United Kingdom: two awards

The City and Guilds NPTC handbook for 0039-22, version 1.7 of December 2025, names the award a Level 2 Certificate of Competence. Its second learning outcome is carrying out aerial rescue, split into two assessment criteria: suitability of rescue by climbing, and the rescue plan and its implementation. The handbook lists four rescue methods: two-person rescue from a pole, three-person rescue with a belay, a mobile elevating work platform and stationary rope technique. It also lists a rescue from a standing stem using climbing irons.

The Lantra Awards qualification specification says the award began on September 1, 2025 and has two mandatory units: Access a tree using a rope and harness (3 credits) and Carry out aerial rescue techniques (2 credits, 18 guided learning hours). The rescue unit asks the learner to explain, among other things, when to contact the emergency services, the key elements of a rescue plan, when rescue by climbing would not be appropriate, how to carry out a mobile elevated work platform rescue and what that does to the platform's safe working load limit. It also asks the learner to show a rescue where the climber's rope is not long enough and one that needs a pole or spike. The specification says this award is a prerequisite for all the other Lantra aerial arboriculture qualifications and recommends that learners have a basic knowledge of first aid.

New Zealand: one unit that covers climbing and rescue

The NZQA unit standard 31185 is not a stand-alone rescue unit. Its seven outcomes run from climbing equipment and knots to hazard inspection, climbing method, the climb itself, the rescue and the use of a ladder. The climb must reach at least 12 metres. Outcome 6 is a one-person aerial rescue in an arboriculture situation. Its range says the rescue is from above 10 metres and may be simulated. Its criteria are preparing for the emergency and the requirements of the climbing system in use, rescuing an injured climber from the canopy with the rescue starting and finishing on the ground, and identifying medical emergencies a climber could meet in the canopy. The unit lists WorkSafe New Zealand and New Zealand Arboricultural Association documents among its references.

Australia: AHCARB318

The unit text on training.gov.au, release 2 (the PDF was generated on February 11, 2025), covers the skills and knowledge for bringing an injured or trapped climber down from a tree in a rescue. It says the unit applies to people who work in arboriculture under broad direction. Its six elements are:

Plan for aerial rescue.
Assess and respond to an aerial emergency situation.
Access tree to undertake rescue.
Assess casualty condition and system integrity.
Lower casualty to ground.
Complete rescue operations.

Release 1 of the same unit, generated on February 23, 2022, named HLTAID003 Provide first aid as the first-aid prerequisite. Release 2 names HLTAID011.

What the entries have in common

Four entries pair rescue with a climbing or first aid prerequisite or recommendation, in the awarding body's own words: a first aid certificate in New Zealand, a first aid unit and the climbing unit in Australia, a recommendation of first aid knowledge from Lantra, and the climbing outcome inside the same award at City and Guilds. TCIA prints no entry requirement on its two course pages.