Often the health and safety of staff and those to whom services are delivered are at the forefront of an organisation’s mind. But actually, an organisation’s health and safety obligation under section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA) goes further than that.

On 8 July 2021, an 8-year-old girl and her father were out for a jog. As they approached the pavement outside the entrance of Oak Lodge Care Home, a lime tree fell onto the child, leading to serious crushing injuries and subsequent amputation of her leg. Bupa Care Homes were fined £400,000 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £3,275 for breaches of section 3(1) of HSWA, after Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigations revealed that the incident had been entirely avoidable. In particular, HSE found that the tree was diseased with a common fungus and had been rotting for years prior to the incident but Bupa Care Homes had failed to put management strategies in place, including adequate risk assessments, proactive surveys, inspections and monitoring of the trees to identify the remedial works which may have been necessary to prevent the falls risk.

Organisations must remember that their duty under section 3(1) is to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the health and safety of those who may be affected by their operations. In many cases, this is far broader than just the people to whom they directly provide services, and may cover, for example, members of the public walking by the site, individuals dropping off deliveries and even trespassers. Organisations must ensure they have assessed the less obvious, wider risks associated with their operations, sites etc. and that they have implemented suitable risk mitigation measures.

We have recently seen other prosecutions related to the management of trees, including a recent prosecution where a local authority was fined £280,000. Organisations, which manage sites with trees on, should ensure the risks associated with those trees have been assessed and suitable and sufficient action has been taken to mitigate those risks. This will likely include the implementation of a tree management plan or may even require the felling of particularly dangerous and/or diseased trees.