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Reply interwoven with original for context.
On 19 August 2008 14:33, Paul S Watts wrote:
The recent [last week] Judgement in the case of Atkins - v -
Sir J Scott makes fascinating reading and is, in my opinion,
essential reference.
It's certainly fascinating reading and there are some lessons in there
for anyone acting as an expert witness. There is something rather
worrying about it too though.
The judge has largely accepted the advice of FC practice guide "Hazards
from trees". This eight year old document recommends that trees adjacent
to busy roads should be inspected annually, and the judge has accepted
this. Those who manage street trees on tight budgets will not be overly
happy about this. It's all very well if you have experienced woodsmen
wandering around a couple of times a year, but in an urban environment
those who happen to be wandering will be highways inspectors more
interested in cracked tarmac than cracked branches.
The judge seems to place some weight on the experience of the estate
workers. The HSE SIM, on the other hand, suggests that inspection can be
"carried out by a person with a working knowledge of trees and their
defects, but who need not be an arboricultural specialist. Informing
staff who work in parks or highways as to what to look for would
normally suffice"
This might be a tenable position if highways inspectors can cope with
the extra work load, but annual inspections of highway trees by
arboricultural specialist, or even experienced woodsmen, is surely not.
However, I'm not convinced by the judge's view (para 16) that the HSE
SIM is concerned with more than section 3 of the H&SAWA. My reading of
para 5 of the SIM is that it lists other duties not as an example of
what the SIM relates to, but quite the opposite. It lists them as an
explanation of why duty holder may choose to implement a more rigourous
system - and this is made quite explicit in bold at the end that
paragraph.
I'm glad to see the whole 'level 1', 'level 2' thing that appeared with
Poll getting dissed though (para 75).
--
Chris Hastie
Strategy Officer (Arboriculture)
Warwick District Council
Looking for a tree surgeon? Visit
http://www.warwickdc.gov.uk/cya
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