Disclosures

1. Certificate of completion, not certification

A certificate of completion records that a named person finished a course. A certification is a different thing: a body assesses a person against a standard, vouches for them on an ongoing basis, and maintains a register, a renewal process and the ability to withdraw it. ISA’s Certified Arborist is a certification. ANSI8 issues a certificate of completion.

The certificate states that the holder completed the full course of instruction and passed the final assessment. It carries the holder’s name, the date of issue, an expiry date and a code an employer can use to check it. The same wording appears on the PDF, on this site and on the verification page.

We do not describe the course or the certificate as a certification, a credential, a qualification or a license, and none of those terms applies to either. The certificate is not evidence that the holder is competent to carry out tree work. Competency is assessed on site by an employer, and this course does not replace that assessment.

2. This course is not accredited

The American National Standards Institute operates accreditation programs of its own. It accredits certificate programs against published schemes, and it accredits the bodies that certify individuals. Both require application, audit and listing.

ANSI8 holds no accreditation, from ANSI or from any other organization, and appears on no such list. No government body, licensing authority or standards organization has reviewed or approved this course.

3. Use of the ANSI name

ANSI is the American National Standards Institute. ANSI owns the “ANSI” and “Z133” marks and publishes the standard this course teaches.

The course is named ANSI8 because it is eight hours of instruction on ANSI Z133. The name identifies the standard the course covers. It does not indicate a relationship with the institute.

ANSI8 and SafetyAid are not affiliated with, endorsed by, approved by, licensed by or connected to ANSI. ANSI had no part in producing this course and does not review it.

4. No regulatory approval

OSHA does not approve training providers

OSHA does not approve, endorse or certify commercial safety training. The exception is its own Outreach Training Program, which produces the OSHA 10 and OSHA 30 cards through trainers OSHA authorizes. ANSI8 is not part of that program, is not an OSHA course and does not produce an OSHA card. No other federal or state agency approves it.

Following the standard is not compliance

OSHA’s inspection guidance of 24 June 2021 names ANSI Z133 as a reference, and states in the same document that an employer’s reliance on it “is not a defense” where an OSHA standard conflicts with it. Where the two differ, the regulation applies.

Completing this course is not compliance with OSHA, and neither is following the standard it teaches. Nothing in this course changes what an employer may be cited for.

5. What the course is written from

The course is written from ANSI Z133-2026, the current edition of the arboricultural safety standard, effective 27 May 2026. Every lesson is written from that document.

The course does not teach from ANSI A300, the tree care performance standards. A300 is named in one lesson, where Z133 defers to it; no lesson is written from it and the certificate does not reference it. We author only from material a student or an auditor can obtain and read at no cost, so that anything the course states can be checked against its source. Z133 meets that condition and A300 does not.

This course does not replace the standard. ISA publishes Z133-2026 free of charge in English and Spanish, and anyone can download it. Where a lesson and the standard differ, the standard governs.

6. Public benefit is not a legal status

SafetyAid describes its work as a public benefit: the course is priced for access, and the environmental material is included because the standard covers it. That is a statement of intent.

It is not a legal status and not a certification. “B Corp” is a certification mark of B Lab, and “benefit corporation” is a form of company under the law of some states. SafetyAid holds neither, and no seal, badge or mark on this site indicates otherwise.

SafetyAid is operated by Starboard Labs LLC, a Florida limited liability company. It is not a nonprofit organization, and the .org domain does not indicate a tax status.

7. This is not legal advice

Nothing on this site is legal advice. It describes what the ANSI8 course is, what the certificate records, and what neither of them does. It does not state what your obligations are as a worker or as an employer, and reading it creates no professional relationship.

Where you need to determine whether you are complying with a standard or a regulation, the standard, the regulator and your own advisors are the authorities on that question.

If any statement on this site claims more for ANSI8 than this page allows, write to contact@safetyaid.org and it will be corrected.