N.S.W. Department of Education and Communities

In February 2014, all NSW public schools were directed to engage qualified arborists as soon as practicable to review the safety condition of trees on school grounds.

All NSW public schools were requested to engage a qualified Arborist to review trees that were overhanging school buildings and playgrounds, or any other area used by students and staff.

Based on the arborist reports, the Department will work with local councils so that necessary work required for safety reasons may be undertaken.

In an evolving working relation between the N.S.W. Department of Education and Communities Asset Management Units and Treescience, requirements surrounding the scope of work, communication and reporting were defined to ensure a priority roll out. Treescience concentrated on the country regions and remote rural schools principally from Dubbo to Tweed Heads. A team of Treescience Arborists assessed trees of concern, collected relevant tree data and outlined the required tree management practices to mitigate associated risk and concerns.

Treescience performed extensively in the following service offering:

• Policy review and designing guidelines for tree management
• Tree Risk Assessments
• Tree Risk Reports

Tree Risk Assessment — Treescience assessed 20,000+ trees and/or 300+ schools using latest technology to ensure reporting speed and accuracy for post processing of information.

Tree Risk Reports — Treescience delivered detailed Tree Risk Reports for the N.S.W. Asset Management Units and the individual schools, to meet the relevant legislative requirements for the N.S.W. Department of Education and Communities.