What Is A Tree Risk Assessment And How To Do It

A tree risk assessment is a visual inspection of a tree performed by certified arborist services. The purpose of a tree risk assessment is to determine the likelihood of failure of branches or the whole tree. It is usually carried out when a tree needs to be removed. Let’s take a deeper look into what a tree risk assessment entails.

How Do Arborists Assess The Risk Of A Tree?

Tree History

The first thing that arborists look into is the history of the tree. It tells a lot about how the tree was maintained and look-after and if it experienced any infections or diseases in the past. If the tree has suffered serious diseases, the chances of branches and leaves falling off are high.

Plus, if the tree was not treated on time, it would have surely turned weak. There is a huge variety of trees out there and the diseases and infections vary as well. Determining if a tree has had white ants in the past can give an insight into the current condition of the tree.

Tree Vigor

The overall tree health and vigor can be determined or estimated by inspecting the leaf coloring, canopy density, and bark condition. Furthermore, the arborist can also take a look at the amount of deadwood currently in the tree and how wounds managed to heal themselves.

If the wounds healed well and within time along with the canopy density being at par with other specimens of the same age, it could be concluded that the tree is in good health.

Species Profile

As mentioned earlier, there is a huge variety of trees out there. To help identify, the trees are classified into different species. Finding out the species of a tree allows the arborist to determine the type of diseases and other external factors that could affect it or have been doing so in the past.

Without determining the species, the arborist will not be able to provide medication or fix the tree if required. As a result, the species profile plays a crucial role when it comes to carrying out a tree’s risk assessment.

Crown Density

If you were not aware, a tree crown tells a lot about its overall health. If the crown happens to be weak, it means the tree is either ill or about to die. If acted upon, the tree could be easily saved. However, if the issue is ignored, the leaves and branches will begin to fall off soon.

Inspecting the crown density is one of the first things arborists look at when it comes to guessing the health condition of the tree. Even though arborists use the latest technology to precisely find out the current condition of the tree, the crown density gives a lot of information about the existing state of the tree.

Potential Dangers

This is perhaps the most important point of risk assessment. Without determining the potential dangers, a risk assessment study is not complete. If there is a tree you need to bring down, the arborist will find out the potential dangers and the risk of harming the surroundings, especially if the tree is large.

As a result, the arborist will upgrade the overall risk. However, if the tree does not pose any danger to the surroundings, the overall risk will be downgraded. This could be a tricky situation as the tree could threaten property and lives both on the ground and in the surroundings.

Likelihood & Consequences Of Failure

Once the arborist has inspected and determined the overall health of the tree, he/she will give the tree a score on how likely the branches or the tree itself is to fail. A low score means that the chances are low while a high score means the chances are high.

Next, is the consequences of failure. The main question here is what harm the tree can impose on the targets directly underneath and in the surrounding. If the area is where kids play or the adults walk. The arborist will have to be careful bringing it down.

Final Word

In the end, risk assessments are carried out across the globe as part of safety procedures when it comes to determining if a tree is healthy or dangerous. Plus, it is always performed by expert tree services Bethesda who carry out multiple inspections and tests to rate the overall health condition of the tree.