Our biosecurity measures are based on guidance from the Forestry Commission and Non-native Invasive Species Secretariat (NNSS) and all our staff have taken and passed the NNSS and Forestry Commission biosecurity courses. Using their best practise guidance ensures that for example, we do not spread freshwater invasive species such as Dikerogammarus villosus an invasive shrimp, which can live for up to 15 days in damp crevasses, or plant pathogens such as Phytophera ramorum which can be spread by watercourses, footwear, vehicle wheels or equipment.

We have a risk based approach to our water based operations, breaking each task down into individual steps to ensure that the ‘Check Clean Dry’ approach can be applied at each stage. Every piece of equipment that is used in a water course is washed (preferably at 45⁰) and thoroughly dried for a minimum of 48 hours before reuse. This ensures that no invasive species will survive on our equipment.

Plant diseases are so widespread throughout the UK now that it is impossible to be sure that any site is free of disease and so we routinely wash our vehicles and wash and disinfect our footwear before and after every site visit so that our clients can be assured that we are not going to bring any plant diseases onto their sites.