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| To advance the science of arboriculture for the public benefit |
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| To advance the science of arboriculture for the public benefit |
Up Front December 2005 by Guy Watson
Industry news and views, events, technical developments and people.
A Quarterly message from the Arboricultural Association by Guy Watson, posted December 2005
(This message is published in the Arboricultural Association's December Newsletter. For your regular copy, join us)
Having relinquished editorship of the AA Newsletter to Paul, it's my turn to prepare the Up Front message. So here goes
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Thank You
.
.and Goodbye. Goodbye again
..and Hello Hello again
Conference Approved Contractors. Registered Consultants. Branches So what else appears in the December issue?
Thank you to everyone who has helped me put together the Newsletter over the past
2 ½ years. Thank you to all those who have put up with my badgering to produce articles and suitable photos to go with them. I have a collection of non suitable ones kept purely for blackmail purposes that I may or may not part with, contact me privately!!! Thank you to regular contributors who I have been able to rely on time and again for informative and up to date articles, particularly Adrian and latterly Frances of the HSE, Stihl, Derek and Ben at the AAIS and Jim from Hilliers. Together their articles cover the wide range of arboricultural disciplines that makes up our industry. However, the biggest thanks must go to those patient souls at our design and print company Colourspeed who take the jumble of words and pictures and turn it into a glossy professional publication. Their patience and skill is obvious to me and deserves wider recognition.
Goodbye to our very own Dr. Liz Davies. Liz has been with the Association for 3 years and is in fact our most highly qualified member of staff with her PhD in Biology. Liz has worked behind the scenes dealing with the admin and financial control and ventured out to help at Trade Fair and Conference. The financial bug has obviously bitten Liz as she has been working towards her qualifications under the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and now leaves us to pursue her new career in this field. Good luck in the future Liz and thanks for the past three years.
To departing Chairman, Jonathan Hazell, who bucked the trend and served in this capacity for two years. This purely voluntary position carries with it some heavy responsibility that Jonathan has shouldered manfully, steering the Association through the bureaucracy of the Charity Commissioners requirements to hive of the Approved Contractors and Registered Consultants scheme, staff changes, budgets etc. A lot of this work is not seen by the membership but without the Chairman and his board of Trustees the Association would not exist as it does today. I am sure Jonathan will not be a stranger and that his voice will continue to be heard by you all.
To our new Chairman, Jim Quaife. Jim introduces himself and his vision for the future in the December Newsletter.
To Trish Arrowsmith who has joined us to take over from Liz in assisting Margaret with the general administration and finances of the Association. Trish lives in the Southampton area and has worked locally for many years. We welcome her to our small, but growing, team and I am sure that she will prove to be another highly valued member of the administration team.
What a success, what a missed opportunity if you were not there. The highlights for me were;
to all those who contributed the prizes. The Raffle raised an impressive £555
A full report appears within the Newsletter. Next years conference, at York, will be slightly later than usual, 2nd-4th Oct, get your bid in early and book now!
The scheme keeps growing with new applicants appearing country wide. There are still some noticeable holes in the geographic coverage, the most embarrassing being the Winchester/Romsey area, yes our home base has no Approved Contractor. I am convinced that the scheme is the only objective, fair and defendable scheme there is. We keep being asked when we are going to reduce the entry requirements for small, low turnover companies as they see it as too onerous. This cannot happen as the legislation that drives the majority of the Health and Safety issues doesn't discriminate, nor does the need to provide quality service and to have a decent level of knowledge. In my opinion, the smaller companies are easier to assess as there are less levels of command and the records etc are more compact, but it still takes a full day.
2006 will see the completion of all Approved Contractors being re assessed and the scheme gaining the full credibility of all contractors having been assessed in the past 5 years. I cannot see how any scheme can survive without that continual review; it is not enough to rely on submitted documentation as this does not give a true picture. 2006 will also see the launch of new assessment criteria. This will reflect new legislation and best practice but will also give guidance as to how to achieve that by linking to the Health and Safety Package and other, generally, HSE publications. I am convinced that the scheme works and if you are within a geographical black hole, there is no better time than to prepare an application. Oh and have a word with your insurers, there may be a substantial discount available.
Again this scheme grows and grows; more applications are being received than at any time in the past. This scheme too is due for revision, but not until 2007, when it will be more objective and transparent. Having said that the scheme is still the only one of its kind and carries the status it deserves.
It is great to see a resurgence of branch activity. Scotland will have to look to its laurels if it is too keep pole position as the most active branch. South East Branch is hot on their heels, and this issue has a report from the East Anglia Branch. I understand that South West Branch is reinventing itself this autumn. By the time you have read this the inaugural meeting will have taken place good luck people, keep up the good work.
QTRA Mike Ellison outlines the thinking behind and the practices of the Quantified Tree Risk Assessment. A scheme developed over the years to determine the risk associated with trees and their owners' responsibilities.
A timely article to complement the vibration articles from the HSE and Stihl in issue 130 this one is from the contractors' point of view and details what one contractor, BTS, is doing in response to the new regulations.
Jim Hillier takes us back to some of the basics of an area of arboriculture often forgotten in the blur of chainsaws, jangling metal on harnesses and excitement of the tree surgery part bare root planting. Now is the time, albeit delayed this year due to the warm autumn and lack of frost to date at least at the time of writing.
The AAIS urge us to keep our eyes open and "stay vigilant". It appears as if more and more pests out there wish to make this their home and in the world of ever shifting global climate many of them are able to let's hope that that permafrost has made some of them uncomfortable enough to leave.
Once again there is something for everyone in this issue, well done Paul on pulling it together, it's no easy task, believe me. In order to keep it this way though we need your input, articles, photos, suggestions, contacts anything considered the editor will sort out the libellous, false and generally unpublishable material and keep it for his own "black" file.
Guy Watson
Technical Officer
Arboricultural Association