This year our Green Skills Development team facilitated the first ever accredited brush cutter operators’ course, and the first skills training within the Agricultural Sector Education Training Authority (AgriSETA).

Eleven River Ambassador learners attended the two-day training course at the Zeekoevlei Environmental Education Centre in Grassy Park, facilitated by the lead training officer Petro Botha.

This skills training course focuses on safety precautions and practices when using brush cutters, selecting the appropriate attachments to suit different requirements, operating brush cutter in various locations and conducting preventative maintenance on brush cutters. All eleven trainees of whom six were young adult females were found competent after being individually assessed and received an accredited qualification in ‘Operating Brush Cutters in the Horticultural Environment’. During the assessment the trainees were required to identifying the working parts of a brush cutter, demonstrate how to wear personal protective equipment (PPE), demonstrate stances when operating a brush cutter, conduct safety checks, start and stop a brush cutter, demonstrate how to trim long and short grass and describe what to check when carrying out maintenance checks on the brush cutter. The Green Skills team looks forward to the upcoming brush cutter operators training
scheduled the end of August and mid-September.

For more information contact the Green Skills team at [email protected].