Regular inspection

To ensure traffic safety, trees in Germany must be inspected regularly in accordance with the highest court rulings.

This inspection is carried out as a regular inspection in the form of a visual tree inspection. According to the FLL tree inspection guideline, trees are to be inspected between “every 3 years” and “once a year” depending on their age, state of health and the justified safety expectations of traffic (FLL 2020.

These regulatory inspections are performed “in the form of visual inspections by professionally qualified visual inspection from the ground.” In most cases, this allows for a time-efficient and reliable assessment of the breakage and stability of a tree. Detailed examinations supported by equipment or instruments with corresponding increased time and costs are only to be specified if, after visual inspection, “doubts remain about the traffic safety and/or the measures to be taken” (FLL 2020). Such detailed examinations tend to remain the exception.