ICF South Scotland Regional Group Evening Meeting                         14th March 2012

 Dear Colleague

 ICF South Scotland Regional Group – Tree Safety & Duty of Care –  7:15pm to 8:45pm. 

 ICF members are invited to attend a Joint meeting with the Arboricultural Association Scottish Branch to a presentation and discussion regarding tree . . . → Continue reading: ICF/AA NTSG seminar 14th March 2012]]> 31^st January 2012

ICF South Scotland Regional Group Evening Meeting                         14^th March 2012

 Dear Colleague

 ICF South Scotland Regional Group – Tree Safety & Duty of Care –  7:15pm to 8:45pm. 

 ICF members are invited to attend a Joint meeting with the Arboricultural Association Scottish Branch to a presentation and discussion regarding tree safety and inspections in the light of the new National Tree Safety Group Guidance “Common Sense Risk Management of Trees”.  The new guidance document is available to download here: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/HCOU-4VXJ5B

 As principal speaker we are delighted to have Neville Fay MICFor, Chair of the NTSG drafting panel.  

Alan Motion FICFor, Chair of ICF Examinations Board, and Chris Simpson MICFor Arboriculturist & LANTRA /NPTC instructor will also be giving their perspectives as a prelude to a plenary discussion.

 This group meeting is relevant to Foresters and Arboriculturists alike.  Topics will include:

• What do the guidelines mean for me and my clients?
• Who is competent to conduct a tree safety survey?
• How does this change my liability?

 Booking:
Please confirm attendance by e-mail to: john.lees@scottishwoodlands.co.uk

 Location: Royal Hotel
55 Henderson Street
Bridge of Allan
Stirlingshire
FK9 4HG

 The Royal hotel provides a wide range of food at the bar which is available from 4:30pm onwards (vegetarian options available) and which is a good opportunity for members to meet beforehand.

 Parking:
Space is available at the hotel and nearby on street.

 Registration on 14^th March:
Please aim to arrive at 7.00pm at the latest to register.

 Fee:  A small charge for tea and coffee £2.95 each at registration.

 I very much hope that you can join us for what will be a very interesting and informative evening.

 Yours faithfully

 John

 John Lees MICFor, Secretary

Temporary Horticulturist (Dawyck)

Salary £15,680, pro-rata

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is looking to recruit a full time Temporary Horticulturist for a period of 3 months to be based at Dawyck Botanic Garden. . . . → Continue reading: Botanic Gardens job available Feb 2012]]> An opportunity to “get a foot in the door” with the Royal Botanic Gardens is available. Their flyer reads:

Temporary Horticulturist (Dawyck)

Salary £15,680, pro-rata

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is looking to recruit a full time Temporary Horticulturist for a period of 3 months to be based at Dawyck Botanic Garden. DBG is located near to Stobo, on the B712 (8 miles south-west of Peebles).

Applicants should have a recognised horticultural qualification, good practical horticultural skills, knowledge of plants, horticultural machinery and their uses and the requirements of health and safety legislation. You should have good communication and problem solving skills and have the ability to work well on your own as well as part of a team. Any one of the following would be a distinct advantage: PA1 and PA6 spraying certificates, chainsaw qualifications (CS30/CS31), current driving licence, first aid at work qualification.

An application form and a full job description and person specification which outlines all the essential and desirable criteria for this post can be downloaded from this page.

Completed application forms and an equal opportunities questionnaire should be sent to Nicole McGregor in our HR team at The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20a Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR or n.mcgregor@rbge.org.uk by Friday, 10 February 2012.

The National Tree Safety Group (NTSG), as I am sure you are aware, are a self appointed group that  have produced, arguably, the most important guidance to . . . → Continue reading: National Tree Safety Group Guidance – a response]]>

No-one was hurt, but the road was closed for a day and the bridge damaged. So unlikely to make it onto the data used by NTSG.

The National Tree Safety Group (NTSG), as I am sure you are aware, are a self appointed group that  have produced, arguably, the most important guidance to affect Arboriculture in some years. Reading through the meatier (of the three documents) “Common sense risk management of trees – Guidance on trees and public safety in the UK for owners, managers and advisers“, I slowly became concerned about the objectivity of the text and the general tone. The NTSG continually confirm that the risk of fatalities or physical harm, due to tree failure, are very low. I agree they are. But why doesn’t the NTSG mention damage to property (homes, out-buildings, cars), the inconvenience caused when roads are blocked, near accidents, cost and inconvenience of clearing up after tree failure?

The NSTG compare the 55 reported A&E cases due to tree failure per year against the vastly higher 262,000 cases caused by playing football. They choose not to mention that no family members have ever had watch their off-spring or parent be crushed to death in front of them when playing football. To quantify the outcomes of tree failure purely in numbers and ignore the severity of physical and physiological affects is to be non-objective.

This document is very important; it declares that “This document may be presented to a court for consideration as supporting documentation in any case involving death or personal injury caused by a falling tree or branch… This guidance can,… inform the court in the making of that decision”. It will be a far more useful document for the defence than the pursuer because it aims to stress the low risk throughout.

Now I don’t lightly criticize anyone’s work, but if the documents provide guidance they need to be objective throughout. I honestly don’t feel I read a balanced objective document. For example (and I realise the whole document needs to be read in context) the word “benefit(s)(ing)” is mentioned 117 times. Fatality is mentioned twice. Diseases, twice. Pathogen, not mentioned at all. Damage is mentioned 27 times, but mainly in the context of damage occurring to the tree. 

The NTSG have stressed the benefits of the tree greatly throughout. They also aim to educate the reader on just how decayed a tree can be and still be healthy. And yes we understand the loss of static mass can be of no concern to the vigour of the tree, but veteran trees can surely only develop safely in open areas, in populated areas it will be difficult to manage the decline of the tree safely.

Durations of inspections, qualifications, legislation etc are covered. Important as these documents are, don’t expect definitive answers – guidance is just that, guidance!

The documents can downloaded from the NTSG web-site (see . . . → Continue reading: National Tree Safety Group publish new guidance]]> The National Tree Safety Group (NTSG) have made available three documents that provide safety guidance to tree owners, tree managers, advisers etc.

Durations of inspections, qualifications, legislation etc are covered. Important as these documents are, don’t expect definitive answers – guidance is just that, guidance!

The documents can downloaded from the NTSG web-site (see our links page) or from ITS Ltd’s Downloads page.

They are:

1. Managing trees for safety
2. Common sense risk management of trees – Guidance on trees and public safety in the UK for owners, managers & advisers
3. Common sense risk management of trees – Landowner summary of guidance on trees and public safety in the UK for estates & smallholdings.

Hope you find them interesting reading.

Regards, Chris Simpson – Director ITS Ltd.

http://www.rfs.org.uk/learning

Regards, Chris Simpson.

“From 12 September 2011, statutory reporting to HSE of work-related injuries . . . → Continue reading: New RIDDOR accident reporting system]]> Under the Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) certain accidents and near-accidents must be reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). HSE have rolled out an on-line reporting system for all but the most severe accidents. HSE write…

“From 12 September 2011, statutory reporting to HSE of work-related injuries and incidents under RIDDOR (the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995) will move to a predominantly on-line system. Revised online forms will make the reporting process quick and easy. Businesses will no longer report incidents by email, post or fax.

HSE is working with some businesses to explore the impact this may have on electronic Incident Reporting systems that they have in place.

Fatal and major injuries and incidents can still be reported to HSE’s Incident Contact Centre by telephone, as at present.

The Infoline telephone information service will end on 30 September 2011.

Businesses or members of the public seeking information on health and safety can use HSE’s website – a huge knowledge bank where people can access and download information on all aspects of work-related health and safety, as well as HSE’s official guidance completely free of charge. The website also contains a range of practical tools to help people easily comply with health and safety law. The recently launched ‘Health and Safety Made Simple’ pages provide all the information that businesses operating in low risk environments need to meet their basic health and safety requirements, in one easily accessible place.”

The on-line forms consist of:

• F2508 Report of an injury
• F2508 Report of a Dangerous Occurrence
• F2508A Report of a Case of Disease
• OIR9B Report of an Injury Offshore
• OIR9B Report of a Dangerous Occurrence Offshore
• F2508G1 Report of a Flammable Gas Incident
• F2508G2 Report of a Dangerous Gas Fitting

Visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/index.htm for details or to report a work related accident.

Regards, Chris.

Cinder fungus is one of the more common (and serious) wood decay fungi that arborists come across. Ever since I have been involved in arboriculture its correct botanical name seems to have been disputed. Many refer to it as Ustulina deusta, others as Kretzschmaria deusta.  Some will tell you it was changed from . . . → Continue reading: Ustulina or Kretzschmaria deusta? An answer at last!]]>

Cinder fungus is one of the more common (and serious) wood decay fungi that arborists come across. Ever since I have been involved in arboriculture its correct botanical name seems to have been disputed. Many refer to it as Ustulina deusta, others as Kretzschmaria deusta.  Some will tell you it was changed from Ustulina to Kretzschmaria and back again…

Well I decided to ask those that know; the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh. Mr. Martyn Dickson (their senior arborist) directed me to the website of CABI who the RBGE use for correct nomenclature.

Follow the links below and you will see that the correct nomenclature has been Kretzshmaria deusta since 1970. Ustulina deusta being a synonym (previous name) not used since 1913!!! 

http://www.speciesfungorum.org/ 

http://www.speciesfungorum.org/Names/GSDspecies.asp?RecordID=316081

 So many thanks to RBGE and Martyn inparticular for clearing this up (for once and all).

Regards, Chris Simpson