The recent tragic death of a child in a London park when a tree limb collapsed has once again brought into focus the requirement for landlords and employers to manage tree stocks with safety in mind.

Responsibility
Landlords have a duty of care to maintain their land in such condition that it does not harm any person or damage any property, in accordance with appropriate legislation such as Occupiers Liability Acts.

For employers, Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act applies, which places general duties on employers and the self-employed towards people other than their employees.

Guidance
There are a number of organisations which have produced guidance on tree management, such as the Forestry Commission and Highways England (formerly the Highways Agency). However, these must be considered best practice rather than a minimum standard.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) gives guidance for a proportionate approach – there is no expectation that every tree (or even most) needs to be individually inspected – and often the safety requirements can be met by standard tree management.

What is required?
Tree management should begin by ‘zoning’ trees: Zone 1 trees being those which may be closely approached by people daily, Zone 2 trees being those not subject to regular public or employee access.

Zone 1 trees need to be subject to periodic inspection using what HSE call ‘quick visual checks’ carried out by someone with sufficient knowledge to identify defects. Such persons do not need to be a forestry professional; sufficient knowledge can be provided by giving staff training on what to look for and the courts have accepted that such checks can be collective (i.e. checking groups of trees at one time) and conducted from ground level.

As you would expect, where a defect is found, specialist advice should be sought and appropriate action taken.

Inspections of individual trees are only likely to be necessary where the tree is in Zone 1 and has structural faults, but has been retained by the landowner or employer (perhaps for historical reasons). Where an inspection system is put in place, it must be monitored and include:

  • Monitoring procedures
  • Records
  • Procedure for obtaining competent assistance
  • Damage reporting system
  • Emergency procedures (high winds etc.)

Frequency of visual checks, either where areas or individual trees are checked, is not specified, which is consistent with the risk-based approach to health and safety in general. However, the Highways Agency’s previous policy of checking Zone 1 trees every 5 years has been accepted in some recent court cases.

Summer Branch Drop
This is where a healthy tree sheds a large limb without warning. It mainly affects oaks, poplars, willows, elms, sweet and horse chestnut, beech and ash and most often occurs in hot and calm summer weather or when heavy rain has removed soil dryness. Summer branch drop is, however, unpredictable and this risk must therefore be considered by landlords and employers.

For further information, contact your Ellis Whittam Health & Safety Consultant.

Find what you were looking for?

Our FREE resources library contains over 200 searchable blogs, guides and templates focused around Employment Law and Health & Safety issues that employers face on a day-to-day basis.

Get your FREE download

We combine the service quality of a law firm with the certainty of fixed-fee services to provide expert, solutions-focused Employment LawHR and Health & Safety support tailored to employers.

Call us on 0345 226 8393.

Get your FREE download

We combine the service quality of a law firm with the certainty of fixed-fee services to provide expert, solutions-focused Employment LawHR and Health & Safety support tailored to employers.

Call us on 0345 226 8393.

Get your FREE consultation

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Book a FREE demo

One of our team will be in touch as soon as possible. If we miss you, we’ll send over a Calendly invite so you can choose a more convenient time and date for a callback. 

Activate your free trial

The rota module has been built on our brand new technology platform, so you’ll need to create a new account that you can then integrate with your existing Youmanage/PeopleNest account.

Follow these steps to activate your trial

  1. Log in to your existing Youmanage/PeopleNest account
  2. Navigate to admin mode
  3. In the menu, navigate to Integrations > Marketplace
  4. On the ‘PeopleNest – Rota Module’ line, click ‘configure’
  5. Create your new account – because we’ve built the new Rota Module on our brand new PeopleNest platform, you’ll need to create an account. Make sure you use the same email address as your admin account in Youmanage (can use Microsoft/Google authentication)
  6. Sign-in using your new login details
  7. Read the message about the integration and click continue if you are happy to proceed
  8. It takes a few minutes for your employees to start pulling through, then you’re ready to go!

Book a consultation

One of our team will be in touch as soon as possible. If we miss you, we’ll send over a Calendly invite so you can choose a more convenient time and date for a callback. 

Get your FREE consultation

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Search...

Get your FREE consultation

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Get your FREE consultation

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Before you go…

We can help with that HR problem or health and safety query. If you’re an employer, leave your details below and our team will call you back.

Register your interest

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Get your FREE consultation

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Download your FREE guide

Submit your details below.

Request a callback

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Need some help?

Call our team now on:

0345 226 8393

Request a Callback

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Request a Callback
Hi, how can we help?
Click the button below to chat to an expert.