Risk Report

  • Thread starter Thread starter treelooker
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 40
  • Views Views 4K
treelooker

treelooker

Treehouser
Joined
Jul 24, 2005
Messages
1,013
Location
NC
http://www.virginiadot.org/newsroom/northern_virginia/2012/two_trees_at_corner60632.asp

follow the link to the full report.

Does this look like the right approach to fit the assignment?

Is this similar to the approach followed in your region?

Are there ways to improve the approach?

Not looking to slam or praise the consultant here; just looking at the methodology and criteria, which ime is not uncommon, but is also not complete.
 
I think 10,000 dollars is a bit much. Considering I will put most any tree on the ground for$599 they could suite space some money! :) :lol:

I pointed the format and diagrams though
 
Nick, this is probably complete removal, with full insurance and bonding, with certified flaggers for a major road or two, all being paid Prevailing Wage, by law. Apples to Oranges. If I do a prevailing wage job, I have to pay a Day 1 groundie $44.03 to chip brush, and $44.15 to use a saw (or really close to those numbers).


I imagine that the consultant could do more, but is cutting the assessment short. Enough time spent to give an removal recommendation. If someone were not killed, and decay, damage, and deadwood not evident to the lay person, it could been required to have more intensive investigation. Having a traffic control signal there means that under penalty of a fine and moving violation, people must stay put under that tree. Any one person is not subject to the risk of being under the potential fall zone of the dead wood/ tree for more than 1/2 a second. Likely 30 seconds at a shot. Being that it is a traffic light and not round-about or yield, it means that people likely line up there a good percentage of the day (light being red half the time, perhaps).

I don't know what normal DOT requirement are here for significant tree removals. I don't suspect that all tree removals require an arborist's report. We did some work for them recently, though not on such old/ sizable trees.
 
I was surprised to find that an RCA wrote that. He has better report writing skills than I but little things like sawdust instead of frass seem improper. The amount of decay in tree 2 seems so small that the leap to mentioning collapse seems quite far down the road. I guess as far as a tree risk assessment goes he didn't back his report up with the TRACe numbers or TRAQ charts. I'd love to see your re-report based on the info he provided....
 
Good point about the light Sean, he didn't go into that in his report either, kinda brushed through the fact they were along Georgetown Pike but I don't know what that is, he should describe the traffic pattern there a little
 
Looks like the pike is going to be 6 or 8 lanes (two or three forward, and a turn).

Public safety is a lot different that private.

I keep hearing that for an incorporated private contractor, who is insured through a company, can go bankrupt, out of business, and start again, in a worst case scenario, whereas the State has deep pockets and will have to pay and pay.

The institutional history at 'work' has many a tort claim, and and least one big pay out that was cut down from a really big payout, plus I hear a required increase in monitoring/ actual work, which actually was much needed, and more expensive than the payout.
 
Sure, we can google it but the point of the report is to educate the reader well enough that they have a working knowledge of the scenario just from the report.
 
Is the point to educate the reader or just to put in place the report to support that pre-planned removals?

The idealized idea of an impartial report is to give the technical assessment, and possibly recommendation of courses of action possible.
 
Nick, are you paying all your employees, and your crane op and his guys Prevailing Wage, and paying for certified payroll and Affidavit of Intent to pay prevailing wage, insurance, risk of working that close to traffic, Prevailing Wage for Certified Flaggers, paying to submit for a traffic control plan, lane closures, bonds for working for the city, etc, etc?

Where are you going to set up the crane? In the turnpike?
 
Sean,

I read your post before answering my question before I asked it, than checking back in the thread I forgot all about it.

To answer your question, yeah, I set up where I want when I want :) :)
 
SouthSoundTree said:
Is the point to educate the reader or just to put in place the report to support that pre-planned removals?

The idealized idea of an impartial report is to give the technical assessment, and possibly recommendation of courses of action possible.
Click to expand...

Pre planned? A tree risk assessment should present the tree, the target and the risk in an unbiased fashion. It should give the average reader a good overall understanding so that they, the risk managers, can make an informed decision as to how much risk they are willing to accept. That is what I was taught in the TRACE class.
 
I agree that it should do as you say, Willie. Just saying that after someone is killed by a tree, government folks " must" take action, and may not have been looking for an unbiased report.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #17
heres some pics
 

Attachments

  • gfca buttress enlarging.JPG
    gfca buttress enlarging.JPG
    71.7 KB · Views: 14
  • gfca canopy.JPG
    gfca canopy.JPG
    57 KB · Views: 15
  • gfca conk.JPG
    gfca conk.JPG
    93.8 KB · Views: 12
  • gfca natural retrench2.JPG
    gfca natural retrench2.JPG
    67.4 KB · Views: 12
  • gfca stubs.JPG
    gfca stubs.JPG
    85.9 KB · Views: 12
Guy, how do you come to have the in-tree pics?

Is there a strongly prevalent wind direction in the area?

How did the failed tree look, from what was left, if you got a look at photos, the failed tree itself, and/ or the stump?

Where did it sit in relation to the wind/ interesection?

Did it form its crown in with the other two? Did it have its net lean over the street, while the remaining two have a net lean away from the street?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #21
how do you come to have the in-tree pics?
climbed it with my iphone in my cargo pocket like always. how else?

Is there a strongly prevalent wind direction in the area?
hmm not sure. they are rather exposed.

How did the failed tree look, from what was left, if you got a look at photos, the failed tree itself, and/ or the stump?
news pics showed NO Roots or conks. past the buttress was just gone.

Where did it sit in relation to the wind/ interesection?
2-300' west

Did it form its crown in with the other two?
no it was pretty much alone.

Did it have its net lean over the street, while the remaining two have a net lean away from the street?
Yes lean was over road, due to extreme utility pruning done after FERC ~8-10 years ago
There was another oak across the road from these two; that one was whacked due to decline after misplacement of some signaling device.
 
I'm impressed with the quality and precision in determining the location and extent of decay...based on smacking the tree with a mallet!

Great_Falls_Tree_Diagram_-_News_Release.jpg
 
Fisherman's wharf? Me too!
I went to the conference last year and learned a lot but I was disappointed in many of the classes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

matdand
Level 1 risk assessment
Replies
5
Views
2K
sotc
sotc
treelooker
Tree Risk Management Form
Replies
7
Views
1K
candoarms
candoarms
Bodean
California Tree Failure Report Program & International Tree Failure DataBase.
Replies
10
Views
3K
NickfromWI
NickfromWI
squisher
Tree Report
2
Replies
39
Views
5K
squisher
squisher
Back
Top