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Professional seminar on the use of tomograph jointly organised by ISA Hong Kong Chapter and CIE

07 Jan, 2016
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A group photo of Mr. Lothar Göcke of Argus Electronic (Germany) (back row 3rd from the left), Mr. Mike Leung of International Society of Arboriculture (Hong Kong Chapter) (back row 1st from the left) and CIE Tree Management students.
A group photo of Mr. Lothar Göcke of Argus Electronic (Germany) (back row 3rd from the left), Mr. Mike Leung of International Society of Arboriculture (Hong Kong Chapter) (back row 1st from the left) and CIE Tree Management students.

An integral duty of any tree management student is to understand how to assess trees for risks, in particular unacceptable risks. An unacceptable risk is when a hazard in a tree is considered to be so severe that appropriate ways to control or eliminate of the hazard need to be taken. 

To let our students learn more about tree inspection methods, CIE and the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) (Hong Kong Chapter) jointly organised a seminar on the use of tomograph. It was attended by both industry practitioners and students studying Tree Management.

Mr. Lothar Göcke, Project Manager of Argus Electronic (Germany) visited CIE and spoke on the use of tomograph and interpretation of its data so that tree retention and public safety could be consistently optimised in Hong Kong.  

The starting position to assess trees for risks is to carry out a visual tree assessment (VTA). If this VTA discovers problems with a tree, up-to-date technologies are required to carry out a more in-depth check by using a machine called tomograph. It can examine the internal structure of the tree and detect abnormalities through sound waves. 

All students further benefited by meeting with industry practitioners and learned more about the role of a tree manager in Hong Kong.