Arboriculture – Utility Arborists

Arboriculture law, or tree law, has a significant impact on utility arborists. Utility arboriculture includes a wide range of duties designed to prevent trees and vegetation from interfering with power lines and causing other problems with utility companies. These duties are meant to maintain uninterrupted service, prevent fires, eliminate the risk of electrocution, and generally protect the public safety.

Utility forestry involves more than just preventing power outages and promoting public safety. Individual trees and the environment as a whole must be preserved as well. This competing interest requires a balancing act in utility arboriculture. Our service, Tree and Neighbor Law, provides utility arborists with a unique tool to help them in this balancing act.

Tree law may impact everything from weakening trees through over-pruning, to prescriptive easements and the right of a utility company to trim or remove dangerous trees outside of an easement. Improper utility arboriculture can result in power outages, fires, electrocution, damaged trees, and the unnecessary removal of healthy trees. Another problem faced by utility arborists is the danger of attractive nuisance injuries, where children trespass on company property and suffer injury, or even electrocution, by climbing trees near power lines. These tragic cases make clear the importance of proper utility forestry.

Utility arborists work hard to protect the public and thereby protect their employers from liability. When injuries do happen, the damage can be extensive. Urban foresters and utility arborists need access to the latest information in tree law, from basic liability to calculating damages. We provide this information by tracking recent developments and tree law issues throughout the United States.

Contact us if you need legal representation in tree law, or another arboriculture matter. We can help. From our offices in Columbus, Ohio, we serve people in all 50 states.

Treeandneighborlaw.com
772 South Front Street
Columbus, Ohio 43206
Phone: (877) 497-TREE
[(877) 497-8733]
Fax: (614) 443-2685