Tree inspection and occupier duty: what the statutes say in the UK and Ireland
What the Occupiers' Liability Acts of 1957, 1984 and 1960, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Irish Occupiers' Liability Act 1995 say about the care an occupier or employer owes, and how UK national tree safety guidance describes its use for trees.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 8, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. Text from legislation.gov.uk is adapted under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Statutes are shown as they appear on the sites linked below, and amendments can follow. The page covers the wording of five statutes and one guidance document; it does not cover case law, other countries or any particular tree.
The statutes side by side
| Place and statute | What the section says |
|---|---|
| England and Wales: Occupiers' Liability Act 1957, section 2 | The common duty of care is a duty to take such care as in all the circumstances is reasonable to see that the visitor will be reasonably safe in using the premises for the purposes for which they are invited or permitted to be there |
| England and Wales: Occupiers' Liability Act 1984, section 1 | Sets rules for duties owed to persons other than visitors in respect of danger due to the state of the premises; subsection 3 lists conditions, including awareness of the danger or reasonable grounds to believe it exists |
| Scotland: Occupiers' Liability (Scotland) Act 1960, section 2 | The care required is such as in all the circumstances is reasonable to see that a person will not suffer injury or damage by reason of dangers due to the state of the premises |
| United Kingdom: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 3 | An employer must conduct the undertaking so as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in the employment who may be affected are not exposed to risks to their health or safety |
| Ireland: Occupiers' Liability Act 1995, section 3 | An occupier owes a common duty of care to a visitor, a duty to take such care as is reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure that a visitor does not suffer injury or damage by reason of any danger existing on the premises |
| Ireland: Occupiers' Liability Act 1995, section 4 | Towards a recreational user or a trespasser the duty is not to injure intentionally and not to act with reckless disregard, with a list of circumstances to be considered |
The Irish text is the enacted version of the sections; the Irish Statute Book also carries revised versions. The Irish wording is described here in our own words.
How the 1957 Act describes circumstances
The 1957 Act, section 2, says the circumstances include the degree of care that would ordinarily be looked for in a visitor, with children given as an example of persons who may be less careful than adults. It also says warnings given to a visitor do not, without more, absolve the occupier from liability.
How UK national guidance describes this for trees
The National Tree Safety Group guidance (2024) has a section on the legal framework, section 5, and a section on checks, section 6.5. It describes informal and formal checks of trees and cites a Health and Safety Executive Sector Information Minute as SIM 01/2007/05, under the title Management of the risk from falling trees and branches. The Health and Safety Executive tree work page lists it as SIM 01/07/05, Managing the risk from falling trees. This page describes the minute only as those two sources name it.
For the methods used in tree risk work see tree risk assessment methods and how tree risk assessment works. For credentials of people who do it, see consulting arborist credentials.
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk, Occupiers' Liability Act 1957, section 2, read October 8, 2026
- legislation.gov.uk, Occupiers' Liability Act 1984, section 1, read October 8, 2026
- legislation.gov.uk, Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 3, read October 8, 2026
- legislation.gov.uk, Occupiers' Liability (Scotland) Act 1960, section 2, read October 8, 2026
- Irish Statute Book, Occupiers' Liability Act 1995, section 3 (enacted), read October 8, 2026
- Irish Statute Book, Occupiers' Liability Act 1995, section 4 (enacted), read October 8, 2026
- National Tree Safety Group, Common sense risk management of trees, full guidance (2024), read October 8, 2026
- Health and Safety Executive, Tree work: communicating, read October 8, 2026