What a risk assessment in tree surgery is
A risk assessment is a written record of the hazards on a specific job: the tree, the site around it, the equipment involved, and the people who could be affected.
For each hazard, it sets out who’s at risk, how likely harm is, and what control measures reduce that risk to an acceptable level.
The finished assessment shapes how the crew carries out the work.
From the climbing method, where the exclusion zone goes, to how close a fell can safely come to a building or a road.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 place a legal duty on every employer to assess risks to workers and anyone else affected by the work, and arboriculture sits squarely inside that duty under the wider Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
The Health and Safety Executive publishes guidance specific to tree work through the Arboriculture and Forestry Advisory Group, and most UK tree surgery risk assessments are built around it alongside the BS 3998 tree work standard.
Not the same as a tree condition survey
A risk assessment isn’t the same as a tree condition survey.
A condition survey looks at whether the tree itself is healthy, structurally sound, or a hazard in its own right.
A risk assessment covers the whole job instead.
The tree’s condition feeds into it, but so does everything around the tree and the way the work gets carried out.
The health and safety hazards a tree surgery risk assessment has to cover
Chainsaws and working at height
Chainsaw use and work at height are the two hazards that dominate arboriculture and tree surgery.
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply to almost every climbing job we take on.
Anchor points get checked before a climber commits any weight to them, and personal protective equipment, including eye protection, chainsaw trousers, and a helmet, is required on every job under the applicable regulations.
Where climbing isn’t the right method, a mobile elevating work platform (MEWP) does the job instead.
Its own pre-use checks and emergency stop function are confirmed before anyone goes up in the basket.
The tree itself
Every assessment starts with a visual inspection of the tree from the ground.
Deadwood in the crown, cracks, cavities, and root damage all change how safely the tree can be climbed or felled.
A tree in your garden can look fine from thirty feet away and still hold hazards that only a closer, more detailed assessment picks up, sometimes called a Level 2 inspection.
A tree with root plate movement or heave nearby can be less stable than its trunk and canopy suggest, and that changes whether it gets felled whole or taken down section by section.
What’s around the tree
Working near overhead power lines means keeping cutting equipment and falling branches a safe distance from the cables at all times.
On some jobs that means bringing the utility company in before work starts at all.
An exclusion zone keeps members of the public away from the work area while cutting is underway, marked out with barriers or tape depending on the site.
A pedestrian on the pavement outside needs the same consideration as anyone standing in the garden, because public safety extends past the boundary fence, and traffic management comes into play on any job where branches or a stem could reach a road.
Noise, vibration and machinery
A chipper and a stump grinder are two of the loudest, highest-risk pieces of kit on any site.
The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 set out the exposure limits that apply to the crew running them.
Chainsaws carry a vibration risk too, covered by the Vibration at Work Regulations 2005, because repeated exposure over years is what leads to hand-arm vibration syndrome.
Every piece of equipment gets checked for good working order before use, under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, and manual handling training covers how the crew moves logs, brash, and stump grinders safely around the site.
From risk assessment to method statement
The method statement, often bundled together with the risk assessment as RAMS (risk assessment and method statement), sets out exactly how the crew will carry out the tree surgery operations safely, given the hazards the assessment identified.
Turning control measures into concrete steps
Where a risk assessment flags that a tree stands too close to a conservatory to fell whole, the method statement spells out sectional dismantling as the answer, working out the sequence, the rigging, and the work area needed for each stage.
The two documents work together to minimise the risk on site.
A tree surgeon checks both against the conditions actually found on arrival, walking the site again before any equipment comes off the van.
Commercial clients in particular often expect a permit to work system layered on top, especially where our crews work alongside a client’s own staff or the public on a live site.
Wildlife and other site-specific checks
A risk assessment for tree work also has to account for wildlife where it’s relevant.
Bats and nesting birds carry their own legal protections separate from health and safety law.
A site-specific assessment also checks whether a Tree Preservation Order applies, since felling or significant pruning without the right permission carries penalties separate from any safety consideration.
Tree surgery risk assessment: common questions
Do I need a risk assessment for domestic tree work?
Yes, since the size of the garden doesn’t change the legal duty on the tree surgeon carrying out the work, though the assessment for a small domestic prune will look different from one for a large commercial fell near a road.
How often should a risk assessment be reviewed?
Before every job, and again on site if conditions differ from what was expected. A generic risk assessment written months earlier doesn’t account for a fence that’s gone up, a new power line, or storm damage since the last visit.
What’s the difference between a risk assessment and a method statement?
The risk assessment identifies hazards and rates the level of risk. The method statement describes the actual steps the crew will follow to carry out the work safely, built around what the assessment found.
Do self-employed tree surgeons need a risk assessment?
Yes, health and safety law applies whether the person carrying out tree surgery is employed, self-employed, or running their own small business, and it applies equally to anyone else affected by the work.
What happens if site conditions change during the job?
A branch that comes down differently than expected, or a member of the public who wanders into the work area, are both reasons to pause the job, since work stops until the new hazard has been properly checked.
Get a tree surgeon who takes risk assessment seriously
A generic template filled in without a visit misses too much.
That’s why every job our arborists take on across Glasgow and the Central Belt starts with a proper site-specific risk assessment, checked against the tree and the site in front of them.
Our climbing team holds Arboricultural Association membership and City & Guilds NPTC certifications, including the Level 3 Award in Aerial Tree Rigging, so the planning behind a job matches the standard of the work itself.
If you’ve got a tree surgery job that needs proper assessment before anyone picks up a chainsaw, whether that’s a straightforward prune or a full removal near a building or power line, book your free survey.
We’ll tell you what the site needs.
Call 07946 322717 or request a quote online.