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TEP Seminar V ? TREE MORPHOLOGY
FINAL PLACES NOW AVAILABLE ? Ashton Court, Bristol - 23rd & 24th March
Dr Pierre Raimbault - Use of Tree Architecture as a Basis for Tree
Assessment
Dr Milena Martenkov - Understanding Branch & Root Architecture
Dr David Lonsdale - Tree Morphology &Tree Assessment & Management
www.treeworks.co.uk/seminars, seminars@xxxxxxxxxx.co.uk or 0117 9105 200
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You can look at this two ways.
On the one hand if a standard were free everyone would have a bit easier
access. Do we really think that every contractor would then read, understand
and follow it? Maybe if consumers could get it free they'd know waht to
expect from a contractor. Do we really think the consuker has the time or
will be able to know the difference?
If you want to consider standards available free the Uniform Standards of
Professional Appraisal Practice (US), Uniform Standards of Professional
Appraisal Practice (CA), and the International Valuation Standards can all be
downloaded in electronic format free. The Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors Appraisal and VAluation Manual (RICS Red Book) and the European
Valuation Standards are both very pricey by contrast. The former are
published by professional bodies that want their members and all consumers to
have access. The latter two published in the UK.
BSI, DIN, ANSI, virtually all the national standards bodies are for profit
publishers. They get stakeholder volunteers to wrtite the standatrds and
they publish them and take the money. That's the way it works.
Now given that's the way it works, here's the filp side. If a standard has
the force of law (practice, safety, whatever) then any contractor should at
least be aware of it. The law says follow it. Now, you run a business.
Just how big a deal is $100 or 100EU or 100GBP in a year's revenue? Oh, the
standards are revised only every 5-10 years. How big a deal spread over 5-10
years revenue. It's a cost of doing business. How much are you spending on
chain saws. How about chains. Truck tires? Boots, gloves, ropes? New
computer fro the office? Oh the paper. Oh the new i-POD. Oh the tunes you
download? How about ring tones for the mobile, sure I'll pay for fancy ring
tones.
Seems like it's a cost of doing business.
SC
----- Original Message -----
From: Jerry Ross
To: UK Tree Care
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2006 3:46 AM
Subject: Storm the BSI!
Broadening the "Standard of Tree Work" thread (well, diverting it
entirely actually) - yeah, photocopying it is illegal and yeah, it's
pricey - and you can bet your bottom euro that it will be priced at well
over £100 when Derek Patch and his colleagues has finished updating it -
Just as BS5837:2005 is now £120 - for which sum you get 34
computer-printed black and white A4 pages - not even bound, but banged
out in plastic shrink-wrap.
And the BSI don't even pay the contributors' expenses!.
As these documents have the force of law (as has been pointed out,
they're often made parts of planning conditions, for instance) it seems
outrageous that they're not more freely available, preferably online.
So I've made a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading and with a
request that they investigate the BSI under the Competition Act.
I think this is a serious matter of public interest - so I've also drawn
it to the attention of my MP.
Anyone else out there want to join a campaign?
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