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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 - March 05
Industry news and views, events, technical developments and people.
A Quarterly message from the Arboricultural Association by Nick Eden, posted March 2005
(This message is published in the Arboricultural Association's March Newsletter. For your regular copy, join us)
Growth
The AA finished 2004 with 1,958 members - that's 156 more than the 2003 figure of 1,802. This represents membership growth of just over 8.5% and even or those of us not into statistics this shows there is growing demand for AA membership.
And that is good news. Good for the AA, of course, but more importantly good for trees, good for the industry, good for those who work in it and good for the country. But this does mean we are stretched - and we are recruiting more staff to help. Of interest to readers will be the fact that we are recruiting another permanent, full time member of technical staff. Fancy it? See details in the advert on page. We are also recruiting another part time member of support staff for which members are welcome to apply but we expect to source that locally to the AA's headquarters at Ampfield.
What with record attendance at our 40th year conference last September (404 people in all), record numbers of exhibitors at the Trade Fair last June, a projected financial surplus at the end of the financial year (and the clocks about to change for lighter evenings), the future for arboriculture looks pretty good!
Utility Arboriculture Group Plants - and Plantsmanship Membership Restructure "Prosecution Pending" Modern Apprenticeships - they're here for Arb 2004 Ken Martin Memorial Award British Standards - Work in Progress The AA Guide to Good Climbing Practice - delayed by a General Election? Control that Shake, rattle and roll! Other items in the March Newsletter include Thank you STIHL!
A major development in the industry is the formation of the AA Utility Arboriculture Group (UAG). This group will operate under the auspices of Professional Committee in a similar way to the Contractors Working Group. The UAG is the result of the AA being approached by Peter Neighbour of Fountains Support Services Ltd and subsequent discussions with others providing arboricultural contracting services to Distribution Network Operators (DNOs, the new name for Regional Electricity Companies or RECs).
Utility arboriculture is a sector of the industry generating £150 million of arboricultural work a year. DNOs are governed by the Department of Trade and Industry who are currently considering increasing the clearance required between trees and electricity supply lines - that will mean more tree work and it is right for the AA to consider what impact this will have on trees, and on arboricultural contracting. Most contractors are already short of staff...
The AA UAG will be acting as coordinator of the contracting arm of the utility arboriculture industry and will be bringing regular features to the Newsletter - you can see the first one by Halley McCallum of the BTS Group Ltd on the Utility Arboriculture web-page (go to home page and type keyword 'Utility')
The March Newsletter sees the start of a regular Newsletter feature from Hillier Nurseries. The diverse membership of the AA means that we need to cater for every sector within arboriculture. The regular feature from Jim Hillier will make sure we don't miss the part that the plantsman plays in the profession. This issue challenges us to take control at the design stage to minimise the interference trees make to CCTV and street lighting and also focuses on some top flowering species.
The membership structure of the AA changed on 1st January this year almost exactly in line with the proposal put to members in the June 2004 Newsletter. The only difference to the proposal was to allow part-time students to be eligible for the discounted Student-Plus membership rate for one year. Previously it had been envisaged that this would only be available to members who had enjoyed three years of full time education and were consequently looking for work or on a 'starter' salary.
The major change has been, of course, the introduction of the grade Professional Member (M.Arbor.A.). Those who were at Associate grade were most affected and have to decide whether to stay at Associate grade and enjoy a reduced subscription or move to Professional Member grade.
But M.Arbor.A. is not restricted to Associates - anyone can apply - Affiliates, Students and in fact non-members can join straight in at Professional Member grade if they meet the entry criteria (a level 4 qualification in arboriculture or equivalent level qualification in a related subject with appropriate experience - see membership web-page for more information).
A very important note to aspiring Fellows currently at the Associate grade: you MUST take action if your 2004 and earlier Associate membership is to count towards the five years Associate membership required before Fellowship - please read Newsletter page 33 very carefully.
In the December Newsletter I wrote about the upgrading of the legal status of the AA's logo and that we were taking action against two people who had used the logo without consent. I had expected to be able to report prosecution results to you in this issue but the wheels of the law have turned even more slowly than I had anticipated. But we will persevere and I am confident that I will be able to do an article in the June issue for all to see.
An Apprenticeship is a government funded work-based training programme aimed primarily at young people between the ages of 16 and 25. Apprenticeships offer people the opportunity to "earn and learn", to learn the skills they need through a combination of work-based and off the job training, whilst being employed within their chosen industry.
Apprenticeships are now available for arboriculture (and forestry and sawmilling as well and many other industries). Apprentices undertake National (or Scottish) Vocational Qualifications in Arboriculture, certificates of competence in the safe use of chainsaws and pesticides, first aid training and core skills such as communication, numeracy and information technology - further information is available from Lantra (email connect@lantra.co.uk or tel 02476 696996).
Congratulations to Ron Clowes who I had the pleasure to meet last October at Scottish Branch's AGM at Chatelherault Country Park. Scottish Branch Vice-Chairman Donald Rodger described Ron's long and distinguished career in arboriculture (see page XX) and it was an honour to be asked to present Ron with the 2004 Ken Martin Memorial Award.
Starting with 5837 I was delighted to be authorised by the British Standards Institute to post the draft 5837 on the AA website on 1st November last year. There have been comments - and I understand there have been a fairly mixed bag of responses. The AA did consider whether it was right to make an official response from the AA, but how do you find out what the AA view is without canvassing all members and then analysing results? The BSI consultation achieves this, so for the AA to do so would have been unnecessarily duplicitous.
Some have been vociferous on the UK Tree Care internet forum (UKTC) and on that forum AA Technical Officer Guy Watson offered to collate responses and feed back. Response was very low - only XX respondents in a fortnight and so the AA was not able to draw any meaningful conclusions from that.
Colin Bashford, chair of the Technical Committee B/213 which oversees the drafting committee and is responsible for the finished product gives us a reassuring update on page XX. Most of us in arboriculture will be affected by the new Standard and its authors know how important it is for trees.
In brief summary this is the process that takes place following the 31st December close of public consultation
The AA will be providing training in the new standard when it is published and I expect it will form an important part of our Conference this September.
BS 3998 is not yet at the consultation stage and Derek Patch updates us in the March Newsletter.
This Guide, the new definitive Guide to best practice for tree climbing arborists is nearing the final stages of publication. Don't worry, the guide will NOT enforce the use of dual ropes, ban climbing in favour of MEWPS, end tree climbing as we know it, or any other of the rumours that have been flying about. Coordinator and Technical Author Mick Cottam updates Newsletter readers
The Guide is a must-have for all arborists working in the tree climbing environment and their supervisors and employers. I am told that by drafting our own guide we are streets ahead of other industries involved in work at height, so many thanks Mick, technical authors Liam Mc Keown and Chris White, other drafting group members Simon Richmond, Adrian Hodkinson and Jim Dewar and review group members too many to mention.
I had hoped that the Guide would be available from the AA from April but it appears that the approaching General Election may stall that. How, you ask? The Guide must reflect the content of the Work at Height Regulations and those regulations can not be activated without parliamentary time. As the Work at Height Regulations are unlikely to be a major vote puller MPs will probably focus on other issues they consider to be 'significant'. After all, most people have a view on fox hunting, but imagine asking your non-arb mates what they think about twin anchor points. I have made representation to the Health and Safety Executive about the matter but it is not really in their control. As soon as it is available it will be advertised on the website.
The Physical Agents (Vibration) Directive came into force in July 2002 and the UK and other Member States have three years from 6.07.2002 to implement the Directive. The Directive (2002/44/EC) lays down minimum standards for the health and safety of workers exposed to hand-arm and whole-body vibration. The HSE website www.hse.gov.uk has useful information on the directive and new to that site is a vibration exposure spreadsheet http://www.hse.gov.uk/vibration/calculator.htm
which can help you determine acceptable exposure levels.
STIHL will be presenting information on the subject at Trade Fair in June as they did last year - everyone who went to that session (free) received a goody bag from STIHL including a table of vibration exposure points in really simple red, orange and green so you can check what's OK and what's not.
Arboricultural Accreditation for Local Government Officers: the next Foundation workshop is on 14th March. If you're in local government and fancy some accreditation for what you do without the traditional study-and-examination method and without having to cover the full range of topics then why not find out more? The AALGO prospectus is on the website and there may even be a spare place on the workshop - ring Ampfield to enquire.
I must take this opportunity to thank Martyn Thomas, Richard White and Jo Musson of STIHL for their support over the past couple of years. The 2005 Directory is out and again sponsored by STIHL for the second year running. This has enabled us to make it a much more attractive and useful document which does credit to the members within who have attained AA Approved Contractor or AA Registered Consultant status.
Almost back where I started now - talking about growth. The AA Approved Contractor scheme grew by 6% last year and the Registered Consultant scheme by 10%.
Director
Arboricultural Association