Tree risk assessments in School grounds

Over the past several months I have been very busy with assessing trees in school grounds from Emu Plains to Lithgow out at Oberon and Bathurst this all occurred after the tragic incident in Richmond earlier in the year when a young girl was killed and others injured when a tree branch fell. This project involved around 30 primary and High Schools at an average of 150 trees per school. During the assessment of these trees, most were in good condition but some of the concerns noticed were: • large dead trees, • trees with: defective junctions both trunk and branch • inclusions that were starting to fail, • hollow and decayed trees • The amount of dead wood in the trees. During this time I have also been commissioned by several councils, Sydney trains, private residents and National Parks as an independent Consulting Arborist to visibly assess trees and conduct Picus Sonic Tomography tests. In June SAI Global conducted the annual audit of my ISO qualifications and again was assessed to retain this level of competency. In February 2014, as part of my continual learning I attended a 3 day Tree Anatomy workshop. We looked at roots, branches and trunks and their different growth stages under a microscope. When assessing trees that are not well, this knowledge and experience will allow me to make a more in depth assessment of what is causing problems with your trees. In June I attended the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ) course. This is similar to the Visible Tree Assessment (VTA) used in the past but provides a more accurate and quantifiable assessment of risk. On determining the likelihood and consequence of a risk, I will work with you to agree what to do to mitigate such risk and manage for these actions to be implemented. Discussions with several of my clients from councils and other agencies, it is clear that the TRAQ tree risk assessment procedure is the preferred process and I will be adopting this as my standard in future. Attending workshops and seminars such as these, reading research documents and journals, and networking with my peers and clients increases my knowledge and maintains my technical currency in this growing (pun intended) profession of Arboriculture. Looking forward to working with you again soon and please contact me by phone if you have any Arboricutural questions or need a quote.