To advance the science of arboriculture for the public benefit

---

Up Front

Industry news and views, events, technical developments and people.
A Quarterly message from the Arboricultural Association by Nick Eden, posted October 2003
(This message is published in the Arboricultural Association's June Newsletter. For your regular copy, join us)

Sometimes it's difficult to know where to start, and writing this article is one of those times. I'm not short of things to say, quite the contrary; the difficulty is knowing what to write about first!

There are some huge issues facing the industry at the moment - some good, others not so good, although as professionals our job is to turn negative issues into positive opportunities.

Our Conference saw these major issues debated long and hard. For example - insurance - where do we go from here (see www.trees.org.uk/insurance/htm - 17th September 03 Joint Industry Press Release) Also, AA/ISA liaison - after a decade are we really close to an amicable solution? (see www.trees.org.uk/infopages/insurpr2.htm).

The Future of Arboricultural Representation in the UK and Ireland

I am sure by now most members will know the results of the AA/ISA survey "The Future of Arboricultural Representation in the UK and Ireland" either from our website or the trade press. The question - "Do you support the principle of the AA and the ISA (UK and I) becoming one new organisation to provide a unified democratic voice for British and Irish arboriculture, yes or no?" The statistics are as follows:

The answer to the question from both AA and ISA members is an overwhelming majority 'yes' and the leaders of the two organisations have therefore been given a clear mandate to move forward to explore the various mechanisms for becoming one new organisation. We are in the very early stages of discussions and it is important to remember that at this stage we are only gathering opinions on a principle.

And remember, any change to the Association's structure will need member approval through the normal democratic process at an AGM or EGM and I anticipate that there will be more opinion gathering before a proposal is formulated requiring a formal vote.

Many thanks to those who returned comments with their votes; the trustees and I are examining every comment carefully to make sure that your suggestions and concerns form an important part of the exploratory talks.

Representing the AA at the table are Bruce Hatton, Jonathan Hazell, Jim Quaife and Nick Eden, and representing the ISA, UK&I are Alan Reeves, Ian McDermott, Glen Gorner and Chris Cooper-Abbs. Dr Mark Johnston of Myerscough College has agreed to act as an independent chairperson and facilitator for the talks.

Insurance

I hope the package of papers sent to all members in July and the updates on our website www.trees.org.uk/insurance.php have been helpful. To demonstrate the gravity of the current situation the AA called a meeting of bodies representing contracting arboriculture (the side of the industry most affected) and every one turned up! We also invited the government's Department of Work and Pensions whose Minister announced only days earlier "a commitment to working with trade bodies and associations to assist…", but who failed to turn up to the meeting. We do try! You can find a report on that meeting at www.trees.org.uk/infopages/insurpr.htm

I won't repeat the news you have already received from us but will draw your attention to a few common misunderstandings.

Firstly, insurance companies are not charities. They exist to make money for their shareholders. If a product doesn't make money they stop selling it. How many of you contractors still dry, split, bag and sell logs? Not many I know. It has become cheaper to leave arisings on site, or chip them and give the big bits to a firewood merchant. If we could make good money selling logs we would do it. Because we can't we don't. It's the same for insurers offering employers' liability insurance to arboriculture and forestry companies.

Secondly, stop blaming Algarve. A message I have so far failed to get across to people is that if it wasn't for Algarve, the AXA insurance company would have pulled out of arb and forestry insurance in February 2003. That would probably have left 50% of all arb and forestry contractors unable to obtain insurance as their current policies expired over the 12 months following February. It was only through Algarve's negotiations with AXA that AXA gave a six month extension. That six months is nearly up and we are doing everything possible to convince AXA to stay.

Why are AXA so keen to pull out? Their employers' liability claims experience showed a loss ratio of around 500%. That means they paid out five times more in claims than they collected in premiums. Insurance companies like to work on loss ratios of around 70% - i.e. for every £70 they pay out in claims they collect £100 in premiums to cover the pay out, running costs and profit to shareholders.

What could make AXA stay? Just one thing really - profit - and that means a loss ratio of around 70%. If they can make a reasonable return they will stay. A favourable loss ratio can be achieved in one of two ways - pay out less or collect more. There's a limit to how much arb and forestry can afford to pay so it has to be a bit of both - increased premiums and less payouts.

But how do we achieve less payouts? Limit the claims by reducing accidents. Although it's too early to be definite I strongly expect brokers and/or insurers will want an audit of a company's health and safety prior to insurance or renewal. The Association and others representative bodies have already being assisting the two main brokers determine a suitable safety standard for arboricultural contractors and various forestry representative bodies are looking at audits for forestry contractors. Watch this space. It shouldn't surprise you to know that the health and safety elements of the AA Approved Contractor scheme form the basis of the audit.

Undoubtedly it will cost money - and that will have to be funded by contractors (and that in turn by their clients). But could there be some good news in all this? It could mean that contractors with poor health and safety standards fail the pre-insurance health and safety audit, fail to obtain insurance and are disqualified from quoting for responsible clients (those who insist on seeing evidence of insurance before commissioning work). Good news for the better contractors. But the down side of this is a possible increase in the number of white-van-man operations working from mobile phones who care little for their clients, and perhaps less for trees.

What seems to be happening is that by default the insurance brokers are becoming the regulators for the industry, at least as far as health and safety is concerned, separating the genuine contractor from the itinerants. We hope the Health and Safety Executive will be the teeth to bite the latter, meanwhile we all have a responsibility to promote good arboriculture to Joe-public and help them understand the issues and the importance of checking contractors' insurance before commissioning work.

Conference

Our September Conference was an outstanding success. Subjects covered ranged from government policy, the technical complexities of planning law and development site issues and managing the ever increasing liabilities of tree ownership to topical green issues including recycling, the role of the 'eco-warrior', and in contrast the issues managers face when trees are secondary to services, both transport and electricity.

Practical sessions included the AUS Utility Skills competition and demonstrations from Treevolution. Trade exhibitors showed and in some cases demonstrated their latest products, hardware and software. Added to this was the annual conference dinner and the great social network of tree care professionals from home and abroad.

And now for other news:

What, no helmet?

Many thanks to those who have phoned, emailed or written about the picture on page 16 of our last newsletter No 121, June 2003. Using a chainsaw without a helmet is strictly forbidden by every code of practice and guidance note issued to do with chainsaws. The article was prepared by Gardening Which? and came to us in a pdf file which we couldn't change. We should, of course, have put a note to this effect in the last mag.

The Helliwell System - More Mistakes

With some embarrassment I have to report that the revised AA Guidance Note 4 'Visual Amenity Valuation of Trees and Woodlands (The Helliwell System)' contains more mistakes than the one covered with the existing erratum. Sorry to everyone who has already purchased a copy - you can download a copy from our website at www.trees.org.uk/downloads/gn4errata.pdf

Mobile Elevated Work Platforms

The Health and Safety Executive have prepared useful guidance on the use and effectiveness of MEWPs in tree work and it's 74 pages are available on the HSE's website http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr123.pdf The work was undertaken by the Technical Development branch of Forest Research whose concluding recommendations are:

• Further trials or case studies should be carried out to further identify the productive and unproductive elements of using MEWPs compared with climbing, and

• Manufacturers of MEWPs or their agents should be approached to discuss the opportunities for improving the design of MEWPs for tree work

My comments in 'MEWP Nonsense' (AA Newsletter No 119, December 2002) are still current, i.e. that it is still perfectly legal to work from a rope and harness within the canopy of a tree, and quite safe to do to with appropriate training, certification and care. The requirement on all arborists is that they must undertake a risk assessment prior to undertaking any tree work and that part of that risk assessment will be selecting the most appropriate method for accessing the tree: rope, MEWP, scaffolding, or anything else for that matter.

Arborist appointed as new Industry Group Chair

This is fantastic news for arboriculture, which has long been under-represented on the Trees and Timber Industry Group (a group which steers priorities and advises LANTRA on skills issues). AA member and past chairman of the Association's Education and Training Committee Rhoderic Taylor has been appointed Chairman to the group. More news about this is reported in our September Newsletter

Newsletter Editorship

Our September Newsletter is the first newsletter edited by Guy Watson, the Association's new Technical Officer, and includes both useful and interesting material. Guy has made an excellent start in his new role and is enabling the Association to progress with many of the technical aspects of its work including industry standards, certification, publications and technical enquiries from far and wide. My thanks go to Guy and the rest of the headquarters support team, Margaret, Sue and Liz for their continual, diligent and competent support.

Nick Eden
Director
Arboricultural Association