SEMINAR VIII

The Future of Tree Risk Management (Part II)
Working Towards an Industry Led Framework for Tree Risk Assessment and Management

This was the second seminar in The Future of Tree Risk theme. It built on the success of the TEP 2006 seminar that explored arboricultural policy, case law and risk management perspectives as a step towards raising the level of professional confidence in tree risk management.

This seminar developed these areas further with key academics involved in risk analysis and decision making. TEP’s approach believes that our industry cannot resolve defendable risk management question without a significant contribution from risk decision making specialists. Therefore speakers were invited to participate, not just in presenting papers, but in joining with TEP, the AA and others in working towards a coherent industry debate capable of influencing public, media and legal perceptions of risks from trees.

Participating speakers included Prof David Ball & John Watt, Centre for Decision Analysis & Risk Management (DARM), Prof. John Adams, University College London, Prof. Chris Baines, adviser to government on environmental matters, representative from HSE, and a legal practitioner involved in criminal injury cases.

PAPERS WERE PRESENTED AT THE SEMINAR BY THE FOLLOWING:

Neville Fay
MA (Hons), FLS, MArborA, FRSA
Managing Director and Principal Consultant, Treework Environmental Practice
Founder of the Innovations in Arboriculture seminar series
Arboricultural consultant at TEP with twenty five years experience, Co-author: Veteran Trees: a guide to risk and responsibility (Veteran Trees Initiative), Tree Surveys: A guide to good practice (Arboricultural Association Guidance Note 7) and  Specialist Survey Method (Natural England); Specialises in tree risk assessment and tree-related environmental and habitat management
Expert witness work in tree related personal injury and environmental damage cases.

Special Interests: His practice is involved in research and large-scale tree population surveys; devising systems for assessing and managing trees for longevity, biodiversity and sustainability. Lecturing and publishing on tree hazard assessment, veteran trees, risk decision making.
Memberships: Fellow of the Linnean Society, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, editorial board of Ancient Tree Forum Guide to Good Practice. Chairman of the Ancient Tree Forum.

PROFESSOR DAVID BALL
BSc, DPhil, FInstP, CFIOSH
Professor of Risk Management at Middlesex University
Co-Director of the Centre for Decision Analysis and Risk Management. School of Health and Social Sciences, Middlesex University, Queensway, Enfield, Middlesex EN3 4SA
e-mail: D.Ball@mdx.ac.uk  website: http://www.mdx.ac.uk/risk/

Previously Director of the Centre for Environmental and Risk Management at the University of East Anglia and the World Health Organisation Coordinating Centre on Environmental Health and Risk Communication. From 1974-1989, senior scientist at the Greater London Council dealing with environmental risks and public safety issues.

Research interests: Prof. David Ball is interested in risk assessment, its use in decision making ands how this is applied to various sectors (e.g. nuclear, chemical safety, transport safety, accident prevention), particularly how decisions are made from psychological, economic and sociological research plus direct experiences of the legal process.
Recent Activities include ranking of railway safety hazards, the disposal of Britain’s nuclear waste, child accident rates, and a book on Environmental Health Policy for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, Fellow of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, member of the Society for Risk Analysis, member of the European Play Safety Forum, member of the Society of Expert Witnesses, editorial boards of Environment International and Energy and the Environment.

STEVE POINTER
Health and Safety Executive Strategy Division
Steve Pointer works in HSE’s Strategy Division, leading work on risk assessment policy.  He joined HSE in 1991 as an operational inspector before moving to HSE headquarters in 1999.  He holds an MBA and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Health and Safety.  In recent years his work has concentrated upon demystifying and simplifying health and safety in general, and risk assessment in particular as part of HSE’s ‘Sensible Risk Campaign’. 

Key interests: This has included work developing and promoting the principles of sensible risk management, the revised ‘5 steps to risk assessment’, the first example risk assessments, HSE’s ‘Myth of the month’ campaign
Steve Pointer’s presentation addresses risk and the Health and Safety at Work Act, including the Tolerability of Risk framework and its limitations, reasonable practicability and the need to avoid over-complication

RICHARD STEAD
MA Cantab
Barrister: St John’s Chambers, 101 Victoria Street, Bristol BS1 6PU.
richard.stead@stjohnschambers.co.uk
Practising since 1979 in personal injury and property damage cases, including tree related injury and damage (falling trees and tree root damage).  He also sits as a Recorder in the Crown Court and County Court, and acts as a mediator and arbitrator.

Recent Cases
In the last year acting for the Claimant in the case of Poll v Earl of Morley, and for the Defendant in Corker v Wilson.
Summary of Presentation
Issues arising from recent cases; Do the courts inform the standard to be achieved by the arboriculturist and landowner, or do the arboriculturalists inform the court of the standard to be achieved? What is the duty of care of the landowner / arboriculturist? How should reasonableness in inspection / management of trees be assessed? Are there different duties and standards for the homeowner and the estate owner?

PROFESSOR JOHN ADAMS
Professor of Geography
University College London.
Professor John Adams is a leading theorist on risk compensation and an environmentalist. He explores how it is possible for risk decision making to operate with a sense of proportion in a risk-averse world He is author of ''Risk'' - an analysis of how humans assess and respond to perceived risks. "Risk Compensation versus the obedient automaton theory of human behaviour" - how views of risk compensation influences policy and management

Recent activities: Member of the original Board of Directors of Friends of the Earth, actively involved in public debates about environmental issues; presents evidence to public inquiries and parliamentary committees, regular contributor to media on transport and risk themes
Key areas of professional interest: Forecasting, traffic modelling, cost-benefit analysis and risk assessment ;current work on both risk and transport issues seeks to understand attitudes and reasons for irrationality and how to influence more constructive and rational dialogues.

JOHN WATT
SENIOR LECTURER, RISK MANAGEMENT & DECISION ANALYSIS
Co-ordinator, Centre for Decision Analysis and Risk Management, Middlesex University, Formerly research fellow at Imperial College (urban geochemistry), Middlesex University (air pollution).

Research Areas: Risk management, environmental pollution and human health, effects of particulate matter on human health and on cultural heritage, cost - benefit analysis applied to air pollution impacts, applied geochemistry and computer controlled electron microscopy.
Recent Activities: Rational economic appraisal of air pollution and cultural heritage, effects of air polution on heritage in modern, multi-pollutant atmosphere, building soiling, Implications of air pollution research for air quality and heritage protection policy and emerging research area in designing better ways of communicating risk.

PROFESSOR CHRIS BAINES
BSc (Lond), Dip L A (UCE) M I Biol, Hon FCIWEM, Hon FILAM
Horticulturalist & landscape architect.

Independent environmental adviser to corporate sector and to Central and Local Government. Award-winning writer and broadcaster, environmental campaigner and urban nature conservationist. President of the Association of Environment-Conscious Building and the Urban Wildlife Partnership.  Member of the Expert Panel of Heritage Lottery Fund and the steering committee of CABE Space. Campaigner for Urban Trees and adviser to major strategic greenspace initiatives and urban regeneration projects. Widely published in the popular press. Winner of the 1967 UK Conservation Book Prize, for The Wild Side of Tow and author of Trees Matter for the National Urban Forestry Unit.

Look out for - SEMINAR IX in the series on 15th and 16th November 2007
A two-day master-class on Integrated European Tree Assessment Approaches to Highway & Amenity Tree Inspection: looking at fungal decay patterns using non-invasive tree hazard inspection methods for risk decision making. It is based on interpreting decay using Michael Schlag’s system for assessing the steady state balance between fungal decay and adaptive growth. How hollow can a tree be and still be expected not to fail. The seminar will also look at new cable bracing methods.