Maintain wood or wood-based materials in desired condition when working with them

This standard covers the skills and knowledge required to be able to work effectively with wood or wood-based materials. This involves moving, handling and storing wood or wood-based materials in ways maintains their quality and condition and effectively dealing with any damage or degrade that may occur. To do this, you will need to understand the properties and characteristics of wood, how it can be damaged and how to protect it to ensure condition is maintained.

This could be useful to those in sawmilling, construction, joinery, carpentry, wood machining, wood drying, wood preservation, and manufacture and finishing of wood products.

1. comply with health and safety requirements and procedures at all times
2. use equipment and techniques to move, handle and work with wood or wood products that prevents the risk of damage
3. check desired moisture content of wood or wood-based materials is maintained in a satisfactory condition
4. follow any specifications, regulations, codes of practice and method statements that apply to your work with wood or wood-based materials
5. store wood or wood-based materials in ways that keep them dry and protect them from damage, distortion and deterioration
6. deal with any damage or degrade to minimise effects on end products

1. legal duties for health and safety in the workplace and legislation covering your job role
2. species of timber in commercial use, their appearance, individual characteristics, properties and typical end uses
3. differences between softwood and hardwood and impact this has on the wood products you are involved with
4. what is meant by durability, differing levels of durability, how they are categorised and the woods listed within each category
5. ways to improve wood's ability to resist weathering, decay or infestation and mechanical durability or performance
6. how to protect wood from uptake of moisture, staining, distortion, deterioration or other degrade
7. types of preservative treatments available, level of protection they provide and how they are applied
8. effects of wood treatments and exterior coatings on wood structures, properties, durability and appearance
9. effect that moisture content has and reasons for drying wood
10. recommended moisture content for wood for its intended use
11. key features, advantages and limitations of the different woods and wood-based materials available to you and where to access information
12. influence of the service environment on the choice of species
13. main trade dimensions for available wood
14. how the quality of wood affects the quality of the end products
15. ways to maximise efficient use of timber
16. effect of wood properties and characteristics on tools and machinery
17. basic rules of storage, handling and protection for wood or wood-based materials and the damage or deterioration that will occur if they are not followed
18. how to deal with and minimise the effects of damage or degrade
19. regulations and codes of practice that you need to comply with when working with wood