City & Guilds NPTC works in close partnership with the Health and Safety Executive to try and raise awareness of health and safety through training and qualifications. The agricultural/horticultural/forestry/arboricultural industries don’t have an exemplary health and safety track record, but employers are starting to take a much greater degree of responsibility by providing appropriate training for their staff.


To improve awareness City & Guilds NPTC have introduced specific health and safety qualifications for agriculture and production horticulture which are now widely used by the colleges and training providers. The Level 2 Award in Safe Working in Agriculture and Production Horticulture is suitable for those working in and those about to enter the industry. It covers the major source of accidents and ill health and the consequences of safe versus unsafe behaviour. This can be followed up with a Level 3 Award in Controlling Risks to Health and Safety in Agriculture and Production Horticulture. This is ideal for supervisors, skilled employees or unit managers, it covers health and safety law and the risk assessment process.

These qualifications aren’t specific to the landscape and amenity side of the industry; however our range of certificates of competence also cover health and safety. When candidates take certificates of competence the assessment will include risk assessment, pre-use safety of machines, PPE, working competently using tools and equipment safely and observing all the relevant health and safety legislation. This is a significant part of the assessment and any breaches of health and safety issues by the candidate lead to the assessment being terminated.

Proper training in the use of any machinery or equipment will raise awareness of what is acceptable and appropriate in the work environment. This knowledge leads to greater understanding of risks involved with jobs, and staff can then make appropriate decisions. As the landscape and amenity industry often involves lone working, or working in isolated locations health and safety really does need to be part of the ethos of the workforce so that no one you know or employ becomes another HSE statistic.