Following an extensive review and revision process The National Tree Safety Group has launched its revised 2nd edition of Common Sense Risk Management of Trees. The NTSG Drafting Group has worked for over three years in consultation with sector experts, refining and amending the document to provide the most up to date advice to landowners who are responsible for the management of trees under their control.
The drafting group comprised members of the following organisations who represent a wide cross section of the sectors at which the guidance is aimed: Arboricultural Association; Simon Richmond, Treework Environmental Practice; Nev Fay, The London Tree Officers Association; Andy Tipping, Forest Research; Elaine Dick, Forestry Commission; Hilary Allison, NTSG Chair and Jim Smith.
The first edition of this guidance supported a growing awareness among those duty holders of the need to check their trees and provided guidance on a widely accepted approach to managing risks from trees,based on sector-wide consultation. More than a decade on, the NTSG has taken stock of what has changed, such as the emergence of widespread tree disease, growing public activism and advocacy around the benefits of trees now reflected in Government policy, and a number of new legal cases. There are reasons why trees require a specific and unique approach to safety management: As natural organisms they organically change from year to year. While tree diseases are not new, emerging pests and diseases have moved from being isolated problems to impacting a large percentage of the nation’s stock of trees.
This 2nd edition, comprising a Full Guidance Publication and a Summary document, is about an overall approach and lays out the principles behind tree risk management. Its scope is not prescriptive in dealing with tree pathology and failure. The Full Guidance Publication includes Scenarios providing examples of how trees can be managed in practice indifferent types of ownership and use. Safety and human health are paramount.
Digital copies can be downloaded from the NTSG website https://ntsgroup.org.uk/publications/
