Chainsaw courses: training for safety and skills
Chainsaw courses teach safe and effective ways to use your tool. Find out what you need to know.
21.11.2025
What can I learn on a chainsaw course?
Chainsaw courses in the UK are generally focussed on the safe use of equipment, so you can expect to get a good grounding in the proper use and care of PPE, gain an understanding of how to maintain your chainsaw and assess it for defects and safety features, learn how to carry out safety tests before you start work, and know how to organise a safe working site. Courses will also cover the cutting and handling of wood, in varying degrees of detail. All accredited courses use the Lantra curriculum but are delivered by private providers all over the country, so specifics of timing and requirements may vary.
Chainsaw courses: professional Licence to Practice
A Licence to Practice is the required standard of qualification for professional forestry workers and arboriculturists, as set out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). To obtain a Licence to Practice, users must undergo assessment as well as training in multiple modules (structured as units of qualification), which will include practical work as well as theory.
This standard replaced the Certificate of Competence in 2013 and is accredited by Lantra. If you use a chainsaw at work, adequate training is a legal requirement; refresher training is recommended every 3 years for people who occasionally use a chainsaw at work, and every 5 years for full-time professional chainsaw users.
Chainsaw courses for non-professional users
For non-professional users, there is a Lantra-accredited Chainsaw Maintenance and Cross-cutting course that covers general use and safety, and also has a practical component. It generally takes place over one or two days.
Chainsaw courses: PPE you need
Chainsaw training courses require you to take your own safety equipment and to have a good standard of physical fitness. Check the exact requirements of your course, but in general the personal protective equipment you need includes:
- Safety helmet with ear and face protection
- Protective gloves made from robust material
- Cut protection trousers
- Safety boots with cut protection inserts
- First aid dressings
We also recommend wearing a safety vest or forestry jacket in a signal colour for increased safety.
Costs of training
The exact costs of chainsaw safety training depends on the provider as well as on whether you are pursuing professional qualification or not. For a 2-day course, expect costs to start from around £200.
Basic chainsaw course content
The range of chainsaw courses accredited by Lantra spans almost 50 different titles, to support many different activities from felling and processing different classes of wood, to chainsaw maintenance and dealing with uprooted trees.
The basic course for non-professional users is Chainsaw Maintenance and Cross-cutting, which covers
- Knowing your PPE: the required items, safety marks, and condition
- Knowing the safety features on a chainsaw
- Preparing your chainsaw with fuel mix and chain lubrication
- Safely starting your chainsaw
- Pre-cutting safety procedures
- Identifying risks in maintenance and operational tasks
- Ensuring a safe work site
- Checking your chainsaw for faults and knowing what you can fix yourself
- Routine chainsaw maintenance
- Accurately cross-cutting timber to length
- Understanding tension and compression in timber
- Safely dealing with a trapped guide bar
- Handling and stacking timber
Classroom teaching for chainsaw use
Chainsaws are complex tools that require attentive handling, maintenance and care. So it’s not just a matter of understanding how to operate it; for proper handling you need to know how your tool functions too. Chainsaw courses always include a substantial portion of non-practical teaching to take care of this aspect.
You can also expect to pick up valuable technical knowledge about how to handle the wood you work with, in terms of cutting techniques and materials science. You’ll find that learning about tension and compression is key to successful wood processing.
Practical teaching for chainsaw use
Most course participants are probably eager to get to the practice-based part of the course! Expect to learn about maintenance and practical safety tests that you need to carry out, as well as getting some supervised experience at actually cutting timber.
Advanced chainsaw courses
Once you’ve learned the basics, you can investigate the advanced modules on offer if you want to – though most are generally aimed at professionals. The LANTRA course titles clearly communicate the content of the course, so you can learn how to fell trees up to 200 mm in diameter, or use a powered pole pruner. The basic chainsaw skills course is often also a prerequisite for non-accredited classes in chainsaw carving for example.
Find chainsaw courses near you
As Lantra is the awarding body for chainsaw qualifications, the easiest way to find a provider near you is by searching on Lantra.co.uk. Your local STIHL dealer will also be able to tell you about chainsaw courses in your area, as well as to provide useful tips on tool use.
You do not need a licence to operate a chainsaw in the UK, though most professional applications will require you to have a Licence to Practice, which you gain through training and assessment in various modules. The previous minimum standard was a Certificate of Competence, which has now been superseded.
In the UK you don’t need a licence to operate a chainsaw, though a Licence to Practice is a qualification for professionals. The professional qualification is accredited by Lantra, which also endorses a course designed for non-professional chainsaw users, called Chainsaw Maintenance and Cross-cutting. Check for local providers.
There is no chainsaw licence in the UK, however, refresher training for occasional users is recommended every 3 years. The basic qualification does not expire – note that this is sometimes referred to as a Certificate of Competence, though that is actually the name of the previous qualification that was replaced in 2013.
Summary: chainsaw courses
- Lantra-accredited chainsaw courses are available at different levels; professional users must be adequately trained
- It is recommended that all chainsaw users complete a course in basic chainsaw skills
- Chainsaw courses cover theoretical and practical aspects: knowledge of the tool, accident prevention, personal protective equipment and cutting techniques
- More advanced modules cover felling trees or professional pruning work
- Your STIHL dealer can help find courses near you, or you can search on Lantra.co.uk
