Simon attended his first international Clean Air conference at Melbourne University as a student in the 1970s. After working in the UK and Europe in the 80s he returned to Australia and was privileged to present a number of environmental awards for the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand whilst consulting on waste-water management using ‘electronic nose’ technology. Joining Linfox in the 2000’s as Vice President – Strategy, Simon helped lead the successful vehicle emissions reduction (carbon dioxide equivalent – CO2e) ‘Green Fox’ program, which ultimately resulted in a halving of Linfox’s per-kilometre carbon footprint. Simon then presented these results at sustainability conferences in Melbourne and Sydney. In the 2010s Simon consulted to Glencore mines in Australia and Africa on subjects such as waste management and SO2 emission monitoring and control. After joining Active Tree Services in 2019, industry needs following the 2020 bushfires led to Simon’s vision for a new business – Active Green Services – and innovation in drone-based inspections and technology-based urban greening solutions including virtual tree inventories.
Treenet Symposium Speaker
Simon Strauss
Biography
Session Abstract
An ANZ tree risk management and assessment system: MIS501, 2nd Edition
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 2nd edition.
