To advance the science of arboriculture for the public benefit

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Up Front

Industry news and views, events, technical developments and people.
A Quarterly message from the Arboricultural Association by Nick Eden, posted January 2004
(This message is published in the Arboricultural Association's December Newsletter. For your regular copy, join us)

Here's a riddle.

Q.When is it good that someone gets injured and doesn't get compensation?

A. When it's their own fault.

Does that sound callous? Perhaps it does, on the surface, but dig a little deeper and you'll find that the alternative is far less fair.

As arboriculturists we all know that money doesn't grow on trees - neither physically nor metaphorically. Most of us work pretty hard for a living and an increasing amount of our income is being spent on insurance. When someone gets compensation for an accident the people who pay for it are those who pay insurance premiums. Fair enough when the accident is genuinely unforeseeable or even if it's someone else's fault. But is it really fair that the rest of us pay for someone else's stupidity?

I've just heard of an accident that occurred a few years ago that hasn't yet been settled. The insurer put a reserve on the claim (that's the sum the insurer puts on one side hoping it will cover the payout once it's been through the claims process) but over four years the reserve has been increased five fold - illustrative of the phenomenal increase in claims costs and one of the causes of recent premium increases.

A fatality can easily lead to a settlement of £1 million in today's climate. My guess is that there is about 3,000 - 3,500 Employers' Liability policies covering the arboriculture and forestry industry in the UK. That means somewhere between £285 and £333 of your premium will go to settle this one claim! And the statisticians tell us there are 4 or 5 people killed in arboriculture each year. That's one major reason why our premiums are going higher and higher, and why insurers don't want anything to do with our industry, nor roofing, nor scaffolding, nor deep sea diving, nor any other high risk industry.

In October the AA hosted the second Joint Industry Insurance Meeting to continue to search for answers to the problems of increasing cost and decreasing availability. A report on the meeting can be found on our insurance web page. We are addressing both the short term (convincing main insurer AXA to stay with us) and the long term (requesting government intervention to tackle the root cause). Significant factors requiring long term action are the compensation culture, conditional fee arrangements (no win no fee) and the fact that 40% of all payouts is professional fees.

So perhaps my riddle isn't as callous as it sounds. The House of Lords would like it - you can see the decision made by Lords Hutton, Hoffmann, Hobhouse, Nicholls and Scott in Tomlinson - v - Congleton Borough Council (nothing to do with trees but perhaps a groundbreaking decision which may help to turn the tide of compensation). Lord Hobhouse said "It is not, and should never be, the policy of the law to require the protection of the foolhardy or reckless few to deprive, or interfere with, the enjoyment by the remainder of society…". This was reported in our December 2003 Newsletter.

This Issue

The December Newsletter is packed with news of what we have been doing for members, the industry and British and Irish arboriculture and also some insight into what members have been doing. We are delighted to report new staff, new members, new AA Approved Contractors, new AA Registered Consultants, new AALGO candidates, new Technician's Certificate holders and an all new membership brochure. If yours is spare use it to encourage someone else to join.

Congratulations - AA Award Winner Ted Green MBE

Congratulations Ted - welcome to the ranks of AA award holders. Ted's work with the Ancient Tree Forum and the Woodland Trust, especially at the Crown Estates at Windsor Great Park has contributed significantly to our understanding of ancient trees - an important contribution to arboriculture. A full citation will appear in the Arboricultural Journal shortly.

Welcome Zoë

I am delighted to welcome Zoë to the ranks of administrative support staff at Ampfield. Zoë is from a farming background with administrative skills and experience and has slotted in to a full time role dealing with administration and accounts. Committee members are likely to see Zoë more than some of the other staff as she is minute taking and servicing other committee needs.

Scam Data Protection Organisations

The sadly growing scam of bogus data protection organisations requesting your money (usually £95) can be avoided if you check who it came from against a list of bogus companies - see the Data Protection and Privacy Commissioner's website www.dataprotection.gov.uk and see the 'Do Not Be Mislead' page.

AA/ISA

I expect by now you will have read the latest on the 'merger' talks in the weekly and monthly trade press - our Press Releases web page will always keep you up to date on this and other issues. You can access the press releases on this issue from the home page.

Nick Eden
Director