More about QTRA
The Quantified Tree Risk Assessment System
Duty of Care
Property owners and managers have a duty (under English law) to ensure, insofar as is reasonably practicable, that people and property are not exposed to unreasonable levels of risk from the mechanical failure of their trees. To achieve this, prudent owners and managers employ arboriculturists to advise on health, mechanical integrity and management of trees.
Without Quantified Tree Risk Assessment, a landowner or manager, perhaps having responsibility for a diverse tree population, is likely to rely on the judgement of the tree assessor employed at any point in time. But repeated assessment by different individuals can lead to the degradation of the tree resource as each, mindful of their exposure to future litigation, attempts to minimise the risks from tree failure.
Acceptable Risk
Tree safety management should not seek to minimise the risk of falling trees, but should balance the benefits of risk reduction with the associated costs in terms of both lost tree value and financial expenditure and maintain risks and benefits at a reasonable level.
If absolute safety from tree failure were achievable, society would almost certainly find the cost unacceptable in terms of tree losses. In this regard, the concept of 'reasonable practicability' is a central tenet of English law, which is evident throughout the English Health and Safety legislation and guidance (e.g. Health and Safety at Work Act 1974), and in judgments of the higher courts in relation to tree failure. This concept is central to the Quantified Tree Risk Assessment system.
Structure Assessment
Quantified Tree Risk Assessment provides a framework for the assessment of the three components of tree-failure risk – 'Target' (land-use), 'Size' and 'Probability of Failure’. By first assessing the value or usage of targets upon which trees might fail, tree owners and site managers can establish whether or not and at what degree of rigour tree assessments are required. By assessing the probabilities of the three components and calculating their product, it is possible for the skilled tree assessor to quantify the risk of significant harm from tree failure in a way that enables owners and managers to make balanced management decisions.
The use of quantification in the assessment of tree-failure risk enables property owners and managers to operate, insofar as reasonably practicable, to a predetermined level of acceptable risk. By using quantifiable values we can, with training, assess the risk from tree-failure with sufficient accuracy that property owners and managers are able to compare the risk of significant harm from tree failure with levels of tolerable or acceptable risk. Using the Quantified Tree Risk Assessment system, it is possible, not only to identify unacceptable risks, but also to identify the components of the risk, which when adjusted will most effectively reduce the risk in the most cost efficient or appropriate manner.
Reduced Levels of Remedial Action
Application of Quantified Tree Risk Assessment in both urban and rural situations over many years indicates that when using the system, risk reduction measures are frequently considerably lower than assumed or perceived prior to applying the system.
A walk through woodland and other recreational areas after a moderate storm will often reveal paths and tracks littered with dead and recently living branches. Often the nature of a defect is such that the probability of failure is greater during windy weather, whilst the probability of the site being occupied during high winds is considerably reduced, having the compound effect of substantially reducing the risk of harm from tree-failure. People may venture beneath trees during high winds either in the pursuit of recreation, thus voluntarily contributing to their increased exposure to harm from tree failure, or out of necessity such as en route from home to a workplace. Even in the latter example, weather conditions may be so extreme that the risk of harm from the failure of not only trees but the collapse of buildings and other storm related hazards is such that to venture out at all would be foolhardy. Quantified Tree Risk Assessment includes a facility for considering reduced levels of access to recreational areas during high winds.
Prioritising Assessments
When confronted with the management of a large tree population, of perhaps a municipality or country estate, the scale of the task often daunts the manager. Where to start in the face of limited resources?
Taking an overview of the whole tree population and the targets that trees interface with, will provide tree managers with priorities for tree risk assessment. Targets can be broadly zoned in the six Quantified Tree Risk Assessment target ranges. Tree cover can be zoned by age, mechanical integrity and other attributes. The interface of high value targets and older trees usually presents the greatest risk of harm and provides an obvious starting point.
Using Quantified Tree Risk Assessment target ranges, forward planning can be informed to design out many potentially high-risk situations. For example, if a glass cafeteria is constructed in an open area rather than adjacent to trees, a potentially high-risk situation may be avoided. The positioning of car parking, bus stops, outdoor seating and play areas are elements of design that can affect tree safety management.
Quantified Tree Risk Assessment informs tree safety management by providing a framework within which trees can be assessed at all levels of detail, from an overview of a municipality to the detailed appraisal of a single tree. The system moves away from predictive assessment (we do not need to state that a tree is either safe or unsafe, or that it will or will not fail) and provides protection for both the tree inspector and manager.
