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Re: BS8516 - postponement

Subject: Re: BS8516 - postponement
From: john hearne
Date: Jun 07 2008 11:30:44 
Hi Jon,
Just a few comments:> Personally I think the document is fairly reasonable,
I am surprised at how 
few people have actually commented on the document give the amount of hot
air that has been released over the issue.
Unfortunately if, like me, you believe the 8516 is so fundamentally flawed
as to need a complete re-think of its scope and content, or its abandonment,
it is difficult to comment in a manner that does not appear perhaps blunt
and damning. 


Has Howard hit the nail on the head and it is more about who is involved
rather than what has been written.
No and I have no idea who comprised the drafting panel other than JFL. My
problem was with the content of the draft but, thankfully, I now think that
it would never be accepted by the judiciary and, even if published, its
impact woud be minimal
Delaying things until other interested parties have managed to drink
enough
tea and do something worth while seems a little ridiculous and the
standard 
will stall like the other one and never get published.


Shall I be mother?


I think the debate here should be,  is a standard necessary? If no, then
lets all say so in comments to BS and move on.


I have done
The main problem is how to rationalise an unrational fear by the public
that 
trees are out to 'kill them' and if an inspector fails to observe a defect
that in the very very unlikely event hurts someone they may end up in
court 
on negligence charges.
The public don't have an irrational fear of trees. It is some larger tree
owners who fear the lottery of an accident and the liabilty they are exposed
to, and the uncertainty of what the judiciary, advised by professionals,
deem reasonable and prudent.
I don't have the answer and have admitted that it makes by brain hurt just
thinking about it. It just seems to be that we are talking about an awful
lot of trees, very few serious accidents, and the certainty that whatever
measures are taken, accidents will still happen either because they were
unforeseeable or because the poor tree inspector, after looking at his
millionth tree, is so bored and wet and cold, that he misses something -
like a small bracket on the underside of a multi-stemmed Ash next to a minor
road. 






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