Tree Risk & Hazard Assessments

Arboriculture, the study of trees, and risk and hazard assessment are inextricably linked in the modern era.

Trees are living entities with individual responses to their environment and surroundings. Tree biology is known science but a tree's response to its surroundings and differeing environmental pressures is varied.

Arborists over the last few years have attempted to understand the problem of branch/stem failure and relate them to physical and physiological conditions. Certain growth forms lead to structural failure. Parasitic fungi and fauna can weaken the tree. Saprophytic fungi can hollow a tree, or weaken its structure, without affecting the stability. They can so affect the stability, and subsequent branch or root failure can be catastrophic.

Due to the wide range of anatomical detail, and varied responses to environmental conditions, an arborist has to rely on experience and relate this experience to the facts, gleaned from the survey.

Astell Associates have over 25 years of practical and academic experience of trees and tree response to the environment. Astell Associates have practised progressive tree surgery, incorporating hazard assessment and risk assessment into management programmes.

Trees are living entities with a wide range of biological systems associated not only with the life of the tree, but also with the life histories of many other organisms that have an effect on the hazard and risk assessment of the trees . This multitude of interactions leads to a multilayered response to the assessment of trees.