The Arborist Safety Training Institute (ASTI) is a program of the TCIA Foundation. For over 10 years, ASTI has worked to bring quality, local, and affordable safety education to the tree care industry.

To meet the challenges of the industry today – the TCIA Foundation launched the next iteration of ASTI. Rather than solely relying on in-person workshops to provide safety education, ASTI now provides free self-paced digital courses in Ground Operations and the Electrical Hazard Awareness Program (EHAP) to the industry for free.

This expansion of ASTI offerings is designed to increase the accessibility of safety programs and ensure our industry’s workforce has the training they need to come home safely after every day. These courses are designed to be completed at your own pace, making it convenient for busy professionals to fit safety training into their schedules.

Your contributions make this program possible. Thank you for your dedication to safety and for providing a better tree care industry for all.

After seven grant cycles, ASTI has funded 135 workshops that have trained 3800+ tree care workers. Workshops have been held in 35 states by a variety of organizations, including tree care companies, tree care associations, and more.*

“It’s a huge help to the industry, the fact that now there are monies out there to keep the costs of training low. The grants really benefit the people who are coming into it and don’t necessarily have the money to attend a structured training.” – Ed Carpenter, President of NATS

“We were fortunate to receive an ASTI grant, which covered the cost of workbooks for my students. The point of the ASTI program is to provide extremely low-cost training to tree workers working on trees every day. ASTI gives us a wonderful ability to provide quality training at incredibly low costs.” – Rob Calley, Owner of Backridge Tree Service

“Everybody there [at their ASTI-grant funded workshop] appreciated the hands-on exercises as well as up-to-date information on potential hazards and how to prevent them. Even better, we all had a great time.” – Richard Polk, Director of Safety at Pittman Tree & Landscaping Inc.