Tree Health and Safety

Tree Risk Management

Tree owners have a ‘duty of care’ to prevent foreseeable harm to others. This does not mean that owners of trees need to maintain their trees in a perfectly safe condition but that they need to take reasonable steps to ensure that the risk from trees is kept as low as reasonably practicable. It is therefore advisable to have your tree stock surveyed by an experienced and professionally qualified arboricultural consultant who can make an evaluation of the perceived risk presented by the trees and recommend appropriate remedial works. Our team of four qualified arboriculturists have undertaken a range of continued professional development in the field of tree risk and each hold the industry recognised LANTRA; Professional Tree Inspection Certificate (PTI) and the International Society of Arboriculture; Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ).

There are three levels of survey, each of which have different applications:

• Limited Visual Assessment - this type of survey is designed to locate obvious defects and is suitable for extensive areas of trees, for example we used this technique for Peterborough City Council surveying over 400 miles of roadside tree belt.
• Basic Assessment - at this level the survey involves a more thorough inspection of individual or small numbers of trees. During this type of inspection a wide range of factors are considered from site conditions through to occupancy rates and target assessment.
• Advanced Assessment - where enough information about a tree cannot be obtained during an inspection to satisfactorily evaluate the level of risk an advanced level of assessment can be carried out. For example, internal stem decay detected more accurately assessed using specialist equipment such as a Sonic tomograph or resistograph.

Detailed Individual Tree Surveys

We offer a comprehensive individual tree report for single or low numbers of trees that may be suitable for garden owners or those wanting to seeking to manage protected trees under a TPO. This type of report provides a detailed assessment of site factors, a description of the both physiological and structural condition of the root plate/stem/crown, target assessment inclusive of occupancy rates, tree health and species profile, tree exposure / load factors and lastly risk categorisation and mitigation. Additional/specific requirements can also be factored into the report to tailor it to customer needs. Pro-actively managing trees with professional advice can ensure that they are, managed to the best arboricultural standards increasing landscape and other benefits and reducing the risk of failure.

When defects and fungal fruiting bodies are noted it may be necessary to carry out further investigation in the form of a climbed inspections, tomography, micro-drill boring or root investigation work with an air spade. Whatever method or combination of methods are chosen the most important aspect is the proper interpretation of the results.