Schools across Essex are being encouraged to review how trees on their grounds are inspected and maintained, particularly following storms, heatwaves and periods of extreme weather.
Trees are one of the best features of a school site. They provide shade over playgrounds, natural screening from roads, and outdoor learning opportunities that tarmac never will. But they also come with a legal responsibility that many school leaders inherit without ever being briefed on: the duty to keep them safe.
Under the Occupiers' Liability Act and health and safety legislation, schools have a duty of care to pupils, staff and visitors - and that extends to every tree on the grounds. If a branch falls in a playground and it emerges that no inspection regime was in place, the school and its governing body can be held liable. Yet tree safety rarely features on site management checklists in the way that fire doors or playground equipment do.
Stephen O'Reilly is the proprietor of Crown Tree Services, an Essex firm that provides commercial tree services to primary schools, academies and councils across the county. He says the schools that manage trees well all do the same simple things.
"The starting point is knowing what you've got," says Stephen. "Every school should have a record of the trees on site, their condition, and when they were last professionally inspected. From there it's about routine - a formal survey on a sensible cycle, and a quick visual check after storms or heatwaves. Most serious incidents we see could have been picked up months earlier."
So what should schools actually be checking? Between professional inspections, site staff can look for the obvious warning signs: dead or hanging branches over play areas and paths, fungal brackets at the base of a trunk, cracks or cavities in main limbs, and any tree developing a new lean. Summer brings its own risk - mature trees under heat stress can shed large limbs with no warning, often in still weather, which is exactly when children are outside beneath them.
A professional tree risk survey goes further, assessing each tree's condition and the likelihood of harm given how the space beneath it is used - a tree over a busy playground is treated very differently from one in a quiet corner of the field. The output is a prioritised plan of works, which also serves as documented evidence that the school is meeting its duty of care.
Practical details matter on school sites too. Any contractor working during term time should be DBS-checked, provide risk assessments and method statements for the work, and be able to schedule around the school day - jobs timed for holidays, weekends or after pick-up wherever possible.
For headteachers and site managers, the message is reassuring rather than alarming: tree safety is not complicated or expensive to get right. A record of what's on site, a regular inspection cycle, and a trusted arborist on call covers the legal duty and, far more importantly, keeps children safe under the trees they play beneath every day.
Crown Tree Services works with schools, academies and councils across Essex, including Brentwood, Chelmsford, Romford and Epping. All work is carried out to BS3998:2010 by qualified, insured, DBS-checked arborists. For emergency tree work, call 07803 257771.
