Home / Credentials
Proof, not adjectives
Certifications,
Insurance & Coverage
Everyone says “certified and insured.” Here is exactly what that means, who issues it, how long it lasts, and how to check it yourself without taking our word for anything.
How to read this page
In British Columbia, falling credentials come from three different bodies and every one of them expires. A contractor who tells you they're “certified” without naming the issuer and the expiry is telling you nothing. Ask any contractor, including us, to show you the card.
What he holds
Three tickets.
Here is what each one is.
(BC Faller Training Standard)
The core credential, and the one WorkSafeBC requires of anyone felling a tree over six inches in diameter. It is earned through 30 days of one-on-one training, a written and oral exam, then up to 180 days of supervised work before the card is issued. Most people who cut trees for money in this province do not hold it.
Danger Tree Assessor
The qualification WorkSafeBC names as acceptable for assessing dangerous trees, delivered through the University of Northern British Columbia. He holds the Wildland Fire Safety module specifically, which covers burned and fire-weakened timber. That matters because a fire-killed tree fails on a completely different pattern from a green one, and after the fire seasons this region has had there is a great deal of it standing on private property that nobody has looked at.
Occupational First Aid
The highest level of workplace first aid in British Columbia, now called Advanced. It is the level required on remote worksites, the ones more than a couple of hours from a hospital, and it covers patient assessment, spinal management and getting somebody out. On a bush road an hour past the last house, that matters more than it does anywhere else.
And one more
He is certified to teach
the wildfire course.
S-100 Basic Fire Suppression and Safety is the minimum ticket to stand on a fire line in British Columbia. It is administered by the BC Wildfire Service, and only endorsed instructors are permitted to deliver it. He is one of them. He has taught it to the volunteer fire department at 70 Mile.
Plenty of contractors hold a fire ticket. Being certified to hand it to somebody else is a different thing entirely.
Check any of it
Ask to see the cards. Any faller worth hiring will hand them over without blinking, and any faller who gets uncomfortable when you ask has told you what you needed to know. Same goes for the WorkSafeBC clearance letter below, which you can pull yourself for free without asking us at all.
Insurance
$5 million liability.
WorkSafeBC registered.
Both of those are verifiable, and one of them you can verify yourself in about ninety seconds without asking us.
What a clearance letter is, and why you want one
A WorkSafeBC clearance letter confirms a business is registered and paying its premiums. It matters to you because of this: if you hire a contractor who isn't making their required WorkSafeBC payments, you can be held liable for the premiums relating to the work they did for you.
To be clear of that, you need a clearance letter addressed to you, confirming the contractor was active and in good standing for the whole period of the contract.
Ask us and we'll send one. Or don't ask us, go to worksafebc.com, request one yourself, free, in your own name. That's a better check than anything we could tell you.
If any contractor gets cagey when you ask for this, that is the answer to your question.
Do this before you hire anyone
Ten questions.
Ask all of them.
Not just of us. Of everyone who quotes you. A contractor who answers all ten cleanly is worth more than one who's $400 cheaper, because the gap between those two numbers is roughly the cost of your deductible.
Ask us for the paperwork.
Certificate of insurance, WorkSafeBC clearance letter, current certification cards. We'd rather you checked.