Review MIS501 Tree Risk Assessment

Tree risk management has seen innovation and progress over the last 20 years with the introduction of the QTRA (2005), TRAQ (2013) and VALID (2017) risk assessment methods, yet challenges remain.  The COVID pandemic highlighted challenges in training accessibility and having different risk assessment systems requested by clients has increased training and accreditation costs. Each system has its own strengths and weaknesses, and no system is fully ISO 31000 aligned in terms of addressing total business risk, such as loss of benefits from formative pruning. To help guide tree risk assessment in practice, Arboriculture Australia and the NZ Arboriculture Association collaborated, with input from state and territory arboricultural bodies, to produce Minimum Industry Standard 501 – Tree Risk Assessment (MIS501). The Minimum Industry Standard provides guidance on the application of quantitative, qualitative and comparative risk assessment methodologies, describes underpinning knowledge required for use of these systems, and defines minimum standards for tree risk assessment reports. Using MIS501 as its basis, a group of expert arborists has considered how the standard could be improved by the drafting of a second edition. This presentation will discuss the revision and production of the 2^nd edition.