Tree inspection process
Pages in Tree inspection process
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Guiding principles and legal obligations
- 3. You are here: Duty of care
- 4. Hazard and risk
- 5. Tree inspections
- 6. Identification of hazards and intervention/response times
- 7. Assessment of risk
- 8. Frequency and method of inspection
- 9. Competent persons and keeping records
- 10. Fallen timber and stumps
- 11. Storms and aftermath inspections
- 12. Map of Reigate & Banstead Borough Council managed land
- 13. Requests from residents for non-safety tree related works
- 14. Notifications regarding works to borough owned trees
- 15. Tree felling and planting
- 16. Appendices
3. Duty of care
As owners of trees and woodland, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council has a statutory duty of care to take reasonable steps to mitigate or prevent foreseeable harm, under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 and 1984. Such harm might be in the form of people or property being hit by or colliding with trees, or parts of them. Additional risks include people, particularly children climbing trees and falling, suffering poisoning or allergic reactions from certain species, or being injured by trees with thorns.
In practice it is never possible to eliminate all danger entirely. The law does require, however, that the borough takes all reasonable care:
- to identify possible sources of foreseeable danger and
- to remove them as far as is reasonably practicable.
Our greenspaces have numerous footpaths, public rights of way, with some sites bordering public highways. Some areas share boundaries with private residential housing or schools and are crossed by a number of services owned by utility companies. Staff, members of the public and contractors must not be put at risk because of any failure of the borough to take all reasonable precautions to ensure their safety.
To meet this duty, an ongoing tree Hazard Assessment is carried out across Reigate & Banstead Borough Council owned land taking into account two separate factors of hazard and risk. This document sets out the standards required to conduct tree safety inspections, assessing the risks and plan any remedial action. It also sets out the requirements for staff competencies and record keeping, ensuring a consistent and accountable approach to tree safety management.