Calculator Program Available for Download

Calculator Program Available for Download

We have completed our QTRA calculator program with a beta version now available to both Licensed Users and software developers for download from our website.

The beta version, which has been tested by our associate company Cheshire Woodlands, will be available for a 30 day trial. Licensed Users can login and download the program from our ‘Downloads’ area. Software developers should email admin@qtra.co.uk to obtain the program for incorporation into third party software. Providing that no problems are encountered during the beta test period, the program will be made available on a modestly priced annual licence.

Using the calculator, the Licensed User can select values from the three QTRA ranges 1-6 or can input refined values. The option to enter refined values is of particular value when valuing targets where a measured or estimated frequency of people and vehicles can be entered.

The calculator can be used to calculate or edit values for either a new or existing risk assessment project. Outputs are comma separated values that can be used in all spreadsheets and database tables.

For more information, email admin@qtra.co.uk

Australia 2009

In August and September last year Mike Ellison delivered the QTRA Licensed User Training workshop and our Practitioners Guide to Visual Tree Assessment workshop at venues in Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide. We would like to thank The Queensland Arborists Association, Doug Sharp of North Melbourne Institute of TAFE and David Lawry of TreeNet for their continued and appreciated hospitality.

The Melbourne QTRA Training workshop was co-presented by Sydney based arborist Mark Hartley who also contributed to the QTRA workshop in Canberra. To enable the provision of training on demand in Australia and New Zealand, it is essential that we have a local trainer and Mark will be helping to fill this gap.

David will be 'Downunder' this March running QTRA and VTA workshops in Perth, Brisbane, and Melbourne.

TreeNet Street Tree Symposium

For the past three years, we have been sponsors of TreeNet in Australia and each September we have had a trade stand at the TreeNet Street Tree Symposium. Each year the Symposium has been exceptional in its content and organisation. Held over two days, the first day comprises conference sessions at the National Wine Centre located on the edge of Adelaide Botanical Gardens, this years focus being on of trees, water use and sustainability in the face of climate change. The second day of topical split field sessions is held at the beautiful Waite Arboretum on the edge of the city.

For those with a spirit of adventure, the Symposium can be topped-off with a great weekend trip. 2009 saw around forty delegates head north on a field trip to the historical mining town of Burra and up to the magnificent wood-pasture of river red gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) at Melrose. The awesome spectacle of this magnificent landscape was complemented by excellent company for an evening of good food and drink to the tones of Australian arboriculture’s very own Blues Brothers.

Singapore

In the spectacular surroundings of Singapore Botanical Gardens and Fort Canning Park, Singapore, arborists from both the National Parks Board and private practice attended two QTRA Licensed User Training workshops in November last year. Presented by Mike Ellison, the workshops were hosted by The Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology, Singapore. Although there will always be some healthy scepticism when people are urged to depart from the old dogmas, these workshops were examples of how QTRA transcends international boundaries.

Update/Refresher Workshops

For those of you who have not attended one of the QTRA update workshops but are thinking about it, they are structured to both anchor and re-familiarise Licensed Users in the core principles of Risk, Tree Safety Management and QTRA. The workshop also has an inbuilt flexibility to meet the specific individual needs of delegates. They provide a splendid opportunity to ask and have answered those questions that may have been causing minor niggles, discuss particular instances where you've applied QTRA, and with its recent release, it will afford a great opportunity to play around with the QTRA calculator software.

Website Overhaul

The QTRA website has been overhauled with a new design and new navigation. The new site is divided into six main sections that we think will provide a more user friendly experience for visitors. The new ‘Training’ section will have video capability, so one of our next projects will be to provide training videos for our Licensed Users. If you have any suggestions for future topics, we would be only too pleased to hear from you.

The website bears our new logo, which has been designed using greens to fit more easily with the websites and stationery of most of our users than did our old blue logo. Along with this change, we have issued new Licensed User logos, which are available for download from the website.