Education Sector

Tree Surveys and Tree Works for Schools and Colleges

Did you know that trees in areas of high public use, such as the grounds of a school, college or university, require an inspection regime? Moreover, that the school has a legal responsibility to ensure this is implemented, regardless of how many trees there are on the land.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires schools to undertake a risk assessment of the tree stock on the school grounds. Reasonable tree management has both reactive and proactive elements. While a school may need to react to events involving dangerous trees as they arise, it is also prudent to have forward-looking procedures to keep tree-related risks at an acceptable level. These procedures do not need to be complicated.

If you have no record of your trees being inspected, or the inspection is a few years old, it would be prudent to arrange for a formal inspection. When commissioning a tree survey, the school should satisfy themselves as to the suitability of the inspector’s qualifications, experience and professional indemnity and public liability insurance.

At Gristwood and Toms, one of our many specialisms is tree health and condition. We carry out thorough and professionally recognised visual tree inspections, usually from observations and measurements taken from ground level.

We can provide your school with a written report on all trees, detailing any remedial work required, prioritised accordingly to a considered view of the level of concern for public safety. This report can demonstrate that the school has met a key component of their duty of care. Other useful ways of demonstrating reasonable assessment and management of trees include recording when tree work has been carried out.

Arrangements for Tree Work in Schools

Gristwood and Toms are approved by local authorities across the UK, and we have extensive experience of carrying out arboricultural work in a wide range of settings, including high-use areas such as schools, colleges and universities. Externally accredited health and safety policies are in place to safeguard young people, and these are communicated to our staff. As part of these measures, and when appropriate, we will ensure our staff are suitably screened in line with the latest guidance for DBS checks.