HOW TO CHOOSE AN ARBORIST. Tree Surgeon? Arborist? Tree climber? Arboriculturalist?
There are so many companies advertising using the description Arborist, Tree Surgeon, Tree Cutting, Tree Feller, Arboriculturalist but who is the best fit for your job?
All of these titles could lead to a respected, well educated, experienced tree person so don't be fooled by a title or equally an advert with qualified arborist should be able to prove this with academic qualifications to reinforce the statement.
At Treetech we like to call ourselves "TREE PEOPLE" because we are people who care about trees.
Let's focus on the facts... Tree work if not specified and undertaken correctly can lead to:
- Injury to customers, staff or members of the public
- Our insurance is £10 million pound public/employers liability covering us for the most demanding of jobs
- Damage to property
- Our staff are trained and qualified utilising the latest equipment and techniques.
- Irrevocable damage to your tree stock. These trees have taken many years to grow and a management decisions should be informed with full understanding consequence.
- We understand the need to correct specification to reduce the chances of detrimental damage to your tree populations. All our arborists are working towards or have undertaken academic qualifications in arboriculture and trained in the application of BS3998 Tree Work.
Tree Surgeon? Arborist? Tree climber? Arboriculturalist?
There are so many companies advertising using the description Arborist, Tree Surgeon, Tree Cutting, Tree Feller, Arboriculturalist but who is the best fit for your job?
All of these titles could lead to a respected, well educated, experienced tree person so don't be fooled by a title or equally an advert with qualified arborist should be able to prove this with academic qualifications to reinforce the statement.
At Treetech we like to call ourselves "TREE PEOPLE" because we are people who care about trees.
Let's focus on the facts... Tree work if not specified and undertaken correctly can lead to:
- Injury to customers, staff or members of the public
- Our insurance is £10 million pound public/employers liability covering us for the most demanding of jobs
- Damage to property
- Our staff are trained and qualified utilising the latest equipment and techniques.
- Irrevocable damage to your tree stock. These trees have taken many years to grow and a management decisions should be informed with full understanding consequence.
- We understand the need to correct specification to reduce the chances of detrimental damage to your tree populations. All our arborists are working towards or have undertaken academic qualifications in arboriculture and trained in the application of BS3998 Tree Work.
What can you look for?
Tree work involves climbing trees, heavy machinery, public space and lots of potential for things to go wrong.
Our commercial clients will often ask for proof of insurance but domestic clients rarely enquire.
If the worse case happened would the contractor be covered.
It's important that your contractors are adequately insured for the risks involved.
This will involve three types of insurance.
Public Liability – Covers damage to property and injury to public.
(We hold £10,000,000 Public Liability for highway works)
Employers liability – This is a legal requirement to cover staff while working on your site.
(We hold £10,000,000 Employers liability)
Indemnity Insurance – This covers professional advice given to clients.
(We hold £1,000,00 Idemenity)
Does the contractor hold any formal qualifications to advise you on tree work recommendations.
A chainsaw certificate is not a qualification to understand anything regarding tree pruning.
Most Arborists will be happy to prove qualifications.
As a contractor there are many aspects to compliance but as customer it doesn't need to be complicated.
There are a few things that you should be made aware of and your tree contractor should be able to advise.
Tree Legal - Does the contractor understand the requirements for planning notification/consent while working on trees.
Wildlife Legal - Does the contractor understand the requirements regarding nesting birds and roosting bats.
Failure to abide by these laws could the contractor and the tree owner with possible fines and court action.