0423 190 077 Published: | Category: Arboriculture · Safety | Author: Arborista Trees
Every safe day of tree work starts on the ground, well before a rope is thrown or a chainsaw is started. A careful site and tree inspection is what tells a crew whether a job can proceed, how it should be approached, and what could go wrong if it isn't. It sounds simple — and it is — but it is also the single habit that separates professional outfits from crews that are one bad tree away from a serious incident.
13x the average industry accident rate reported among tree workers
30% of tree work fatalities involve contact with electrical conductors
Those figures aren't there to scare anyone off the trade — they're the reason the national unit of competency AHCARB302 Inspect Trees for Access and Work exists, and why every reputable crew builds their day around a proper inspection routine.
Inspection sits inside a bigger risk cycle
Tree and site inspection isn't a stand-alone checklist item — it's one stage in an ongoing risk management cycle that every crew should be running continuously through the day:
- Identify the hazards involved in the work task or process.
- Assess the likelihood of a risk occurring and the severity of the likely result.
- Control the risk by altering the work method or introducing extra control measures.
- Monitor the effectiveness of those controls, and repeat the cycle whenever conditions, crew, or the work itself changes.
A simple risk matrix — weighing how likely an event is against how severe the consequences would be — helps a crew turn a gut feeling about a hazard into a rating everyone agrees on. Anything that comes back High, Critical or Extreme means the work plan has to change before anyone goes near the tree.
Start with the site, not the tree
It's tempting to walk straight up to the tree and start looking at the crown, but a proper inspection zooms in gradually: site, then the ground around the tree, then the tree itself, working from the base upward. Before any climbing gear comes off the truck, a thorough site check should confirm:
- Site access has been approved by the property owner — including neighbouring properties where a tree overhangs the boundary.
- Access points and routes are clear, with an evacuation plan if the site has a steep gradient or difficult vehicle access.
- Electrical conductors have been positively identified, including easy-to-miss Single Wire Earth Return (SWER) lines common in rural areas.
- At least one working phone is on site with no lock code blocking emergency calls, or every crew member knows the passcode.
- Weather conditions — heat, cold, wind and rain — are within safe limits for the planned work, with a plan to reschedule if not.
Say what you see — and what you don't. Calling out "there are no powerlines on site" gives every crew member the chance to correct you if you've missed something. Silence hides mistakes; talking out loud catches them.
Then work your way up the tree
Once the site is clear, the tree itself gets the same methodical, 360-degree treatment, starting at ground level and finishing in the canopy.
At the base and root flare
- Sound the trunk with a boot or rubber mallet — a hollow note can indicate internal decay.
- Look for fungal fruiting bodies in the surrounding soil, a classic sign of root decay.
- Check for mechanical root damage: recent trenching, excavation or changes in soil level.
- Stamp the high side of the tree and listen for a hollow sound that may indicate root plate lift.
Trunk and structural branches
- Acute, V-shaped unions (bifurcations) are often weaker than they look.
- Trunk swellings or 'elephant ears' below a union can point to decay or included bark.
- Openings, cavities or old wounds may be hiding internal decay that isn't visible from outside.
- Nails, wire, fence staples and other embedded foreign objects can wreck a chainsaw — and the operator holding it.
Branches and canopy
- Deadwood and hangers can be dislodged by a rope during line-setting or climbing and follow the rope straight down onto whoever is pulling it.
- Cracks, splits and compression forks in branch unions are all signs of a compromised attachment.
- Vines, mistletoe clumps and dense epiphyte growth can hide faults and make access harder.
- Binoculars — or a drone on taller trees — help inspect upper-canopy defects before they're loaded during rigging or climbing.
When in doubt, test it
Some hazards can't be judged by eye alone. Where the extent of a defect is unclear, a competent worker has a few extra tools available: pull tests to simulate the load a climb or rigging operation will place on the tree, load testing of remotely-set anchor points before they're trusted for life support, sounding suspect timber with a mallet, and — only where the tree is being removed anyway — probing with a stick or saw blade to check for internal decay.
Let the hazard change the plan, not the other way around
The real value of a good inspection is what happens after it. The same decayed cavity that's a serious risk to a climber lowering sections on a rope might be a non-issue if the tree is accessed by EWP and sections are free-felled instead. Good crews treat the work plan and the tree inspection as a two-way conversation: the plan tells you what to look for, and what you find should be allowed to change the plan.
Where a hazard can't be eliminated or adequately controlled, the only acceptable options are to record that access isn't possible and look for an alternative strategy, or to bring in a more experienced operator. Cutting and hoping for the best is how a preventable incident becomes a serious one.
The takeaway: a thorough, co-operative, methodical inspection isn't paperwork that slows a job down — it's the process that tells you whether the job is even safe to start, and how to run it if it is. Every experienced crew at Arborists at Trees builds their day around it, and it's why we come home safe.
Content adapted from AHCARB302 Inspect Trees for Access and Work training materials.
Related Services
Our arborists follow these exact inspection protocols on every job across Canberra and surrounding areas. Whether you need safe tree removal, expert pruning, or 24/7 emergency tree services, the inspection always comes first. We also provide stump grinding, hedge trimming, and land clearing.
"Every tree has a story. Our job is to make sure its next chapter is safe for people, property, and the environment."
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