The TCAA’s compliance Officer, Dan McArdle, shares some history and views on the current review of the NSW Code of Practice tree amenity for the arbor industry.
Once again, there is an arb-industry review and update of the NSW Code of Practice (COP) for tree amenity, which includes arborists and tree workers. The review is currently underway, with several meetings having taken place in February, March and April, 2024.
The selected panel of experts working on the latest draft should have completed its review by this month – July 2024 – and the resulting document will be released for public comment for a period of time.
Try again
The TCAA has, in the past, been active in the development of the COP and the team has once again made available expert advisers to work with SafeWork NSW.
The last extensive review and was completed in 2006-07, and revised the 1998 NSW Code of Practice for tree amenity. However, the work completed on the 2006-07 document was not endorsed at the time, and all the hours of work and face-toface meetings spent revising the draft seemed to me to have been shelved.
Recently the industry stakeholders received the 1998 COP and were requested to put forward submissions for change to update the version. This couldn’t go unchallenged, and the TCAAA Compliance Committee promptly resubmitted the 2006-07 draft as a starting point – which has now been adopted as such.
Industry expertise
The development of the draft had input from some recognised members of the arboricultural industry, including:
• Tree Contractors Association
• Arboriculture Australia
• Total Height Safety
• Active Tree Services
• McArdle and Sons Pro Tree Service
• Energy groups
• TAFE NSW, and
• Others who supplied their exceptional and valuable volunteered time to create a working document with content relevant to the trade.
The most important facet of the contributions from these people and organisations was the information and suggestions being workable on day-today jobs. Trade associations have a direct input into industry-related matters of all sorts, including training, policy development, regulations, Australian standards, WH&S development, raw mulch, wood splitters, tree-management guidelines, risk assessment, tooling and minimum industry standards. The list is extensive.
Questions need to be asked
Does this have impact on your business?
Yes.
Ultimately, the objective is to reduce the risk of injury and/or fatalities.
Over my time as an employer, I have seen workerscompensation tariffs reduced from 17 per cent to the current rate of around 7.9 per cent. This reduction is a direct result of the efforts of industry groups to improve workplace safety procedures and training designed by the likes of TCAA, AA, QAA, WTG, VTG and NT associations, but also the willingness of Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) to adapt to new methods and safety procedures.
When I’m at the table or Zoom meeting, I’ve learnt one very important fact: if you don’t get involved decisions will be made without you or your input.
For example, assume the standard distance in tree felling is 1.5m to twice the tree height in all directions. My question is, ‘Is this suitable in most of our working environments domestic or commercial work?’
The answer is ‘no’! In most cases it’s just not possible yet.
What about the ways to implement the hierarchy of control for working at heights? If a tree can be assessed as safe to be felled, it should be.
And crane work and regulation is not mentioned in either Draft 1998 or 2007 (inclusion is being discussed at this point).
Have your say
These are examples of the challenges the industry experts are addressing, offering the benefit of their wide experience and knowledge, in development of this document.
I encourage all industry stakeholders to take interest in the public-comment stage of the COP when it’s released later this year. I again remind everyone that, if you allow it, decisions will be made without you or your input. You have the opportunity to offer the benefit of hands-on industry experience, and any input will be welcome through the TCAAA website or via email to tcaa. com.au.
Mark the subject line of the email: ‘Attention Compliance Officer: Dan McArdle’.
To stay up to date with the TCAA, log on to tcaa.com.au.