What is this about?

Every year people are seriously injured or killed whilst undertaking tree work.

Tree work includes activities such as lopping, pruning, thinning, felling and removal of trees and is considered by Safe Work Australia to be the second most hazardous profession and work task (due to the fatality rate within this industry and the challenge of managing hazards).

In addition, whilst the use of chainsaws is common within many homes and workplaces, chainsaw use has the potential to inflict very serious injuries or create hazardous situations. In fact, almost 1000 people each year in Australia are injured whilst using a chainsaw. Chainsaws require specific maintenance guarding, safe work practices and skill to operate safely and effectively.

What you need to know:

Ensuring that trees on the premises are safe and do not pose a risk of injury or damage associated with falling branches is an essential part of what we do.

However, completing pruning and tree maintenance duties requires skill and expertise and MUST NOT be completed by Belgravia Leisure team members at Belgravia-operated venues for any reason.

The ask:

Continue to complete inspections and reviews of all trees at your venue to ensure the tree safety checklist is up to date.

We implore employees to STOP using chainsaws. All tree pruning and removal must be undertaken by qualified and competent specialist contractors.

If a tree is posing an immediate risk, and there is a delay in a specialist contractor undertaking the works, install barricading and signage to restrict people from going near the tree until it can be made safe.

Ensure that standard Belgravia Leisure contractor management processes are adhered to when working with contractors.

If this directive causes concern please discuss it with your one-up line manager who can then escalate the concern if required.