City and Guilds 0039-37 Individual Windblown Trees: what the handbook says

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. The pages used are the City and Guilds NPTC handbook for the award, the City and Guilds 2026 list and the NPTC factsheet. The award covers single windblown trees. A separate award, 0039-35, covers interwoven stems and part blown trees. The guide on storm work covers the wider storm-response picture.

At a glance

Item	What the official source says
Awarding body	City and Guilds, under the NPTC name
Title	Level 3 Certificate of Competence in Individual Windblown Trees
City and Guilds number	0039-37
Ofqual number	603/7650/8
Guided learning hours	16, with a total qualification time of 19 (handbook version 1.5, December 2025)
Age	16 or over
Grading	Pass only
Status in the 2026 list	Open to certification, registration expiry December 31, 2027, certification expiry December 31, 2030

What the handbook says it covers

The handbook says the award is for people who deal with individual windblown trees as part of work in arboriculture, forestry or other industries. Its content list is hazards, risks, controls, emergency procedures, legislation and industry good practice for that work.

The unit text, number 308, lists safety considerations such as the risk assessment, an agreed emergency procedure, road traffic and signage rules next to public highways, the condition of surrounding trees, and how terrain, ground, weather and the tree itself bear on severing root plates. It names other kinds of uprooted or damaged tree: partly uprooted or leaning, broken with the top still attached, shattered with no crown, and multiple storm damaged trees. It spends a section on extreme tension and compression in timber, and on where winches may be used, for example to limit root plate movement after severing or to hold back a stem with side tension. It lists checks on winches and fittings, and says equipment has to be rated for the load placed on it.

Entry requirements

The handbook says candidates must hold 0039-20, or an equivalent version, and meet the minimum age of 16. Unlike the medium and large felling awards, it does not list the felling awards among its entry requirements.

Assessment

The handbook describes one assessment type: a one to one practical assessment with oral questioning by an approved City and Guilds NPTC assessor. Grading is pass only. The handbook says the practical observation and oral questioning should take between 1 and 2 hours. Candidates have to finish within 24 months of the date of initial registration, and the handbook says registration is valid for two years. The assessor has to hold a current First Aid at Work certificate, according to the unit text.

Refresher and renewal

The Health and Safety Executive leaflet Chainsaws at work (INDG317) says all chainsaw operators should do regular refresher or update training. It suggests every two to three years for occasional users and every five years for full-time users. FISA's training guide 805, updated August 2025, says INDG317 recommends three to five years. It gives its own recommendation of recorded refresher or update training at least every five years for most machinery work, chainsaw and aerial tree work included. The two documents word the interval differently, and both are recommendations.

City and Guilds runs a CPD module for this award, 0041-17, Level 3 CPD Module in Individual Windblown Trees, Ofqual number 610/6064/1. The 2026 list shows it open to certification, with registration expiry January 8, 2027 and certification expiry January 8, 2030. The NPTC page for the CPD modules says they are for qualified operators who hold the matching certificate of competence.

The handbook for this award gives no expiry period for the certificate. Its two-year figure is the length of a registration to take the assessment.

Old codes

The City and Guilds NPTC factsheet lists CS34 and CS35 together against one older award, the Level 3 Award in Severing Uprooted or Windblown Trees Using a Chainsaw, 0021-02, Ofqual number 600/6430/4, 26 guided learning hours. The 2026 list has no row for 0021-02. No page read states that 0039-37 replaces it. See old NPTC chainsaw codes and the awards that replaced them.

The Lantra Awards award

Lantra Awards has a Level 3 Award in Severing Uprooted or Windblown Trees Using a Chainsaw, Ofqual number 600/5706/3. Its specification lists two units, one for multiple and one for individual trees, 15 guided learning hours each, and a total qualification time of 26. It names the Level 3 award for felling trees over 380mm as the prerequisite.

Contains public sector information published by the Health and Safety Executive and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.