Pedestrian Safety is a concerning subject these days with many bay area commercial property managers. They want to ensure that their apartment complexes, office landscaping and corporate headquarters are being maintained in a safe manor for tenants, visitors and the staff.
In all honesty, landscaping and trees must be maintained and managed for there safety and in some cases may create hazards in corporate landscaping when they are adjacent to parking areas, walk ways and building structures.
Let’s review some of the common pit falls and how to manage them.
Hazardous pruning is a must for commercial landscaping and public properties—removing overhanging limbs that are overhead targets for parking or pedestrian areas, for example, will help mitigate the potential for an accident.
One of the first places to look when it comes to branches that can cause damage is overhead. And the pruning priority for removal is those that start with the letter D: declining, diseased or dead.
Declining limbs and tree foliage can pose a serious safety concern on a property because all it takes is a slight change in the wind and weather pattern. Proper tree management will prevent a serious accident from occurring and will also beautify your property.
In some cases, if there are large limbs with weak attachments to the tree, cable bracing might be another option to pruning or removal helping to create a safe and sound environment. This technique includes installing weather resistant hardware composed of a steel rod and extending a bridge of stranded metal cable between two strong points for supporting the heavy end weight.
Commercial landscape maintenance companies must focus on shrubs that extend and protrude into pedestrian walkways can create a potential safety hazard for pedestrians.
For this reason, pruning clearance is key for the safe use of pedestrian foot traffic along sidewalks and pathways.
Safety includes keeping the property clean and clear of dense foliage, minimizing the potential for criminal activity. Unmanaged plant growth can create hiding locations for unwanted visitors or criminals, and they can become an area of concern for safety risk. Eliminating these zones is essential for hoa landscaping and apartment community landscaping.
A commercial landscape maintenance company can also manage shrubs and trees to keep them from damaging the surface of buildings or encroaching on visual lines of site or building exits. Also by managing the vegetation clearing away from walls and buildings will help manage pest problems such as rodents and insects. Clearing shrub growth from the window panes or emergency exits ensures smooth traffic flow in the event of a building emergency evacuation.
An additional service that is essential with older landscapes is renewal pruning on established landscaping, especially on unmanaged plants and trees. This pruning service will help control plant growth by allowing sunlight to penetrate into the plants foliage making it dense and green again. By removing dead and unwanted growth, this technique renews the plants foliage over time. A more robust plant is always a healthier more attractive plant, and this could potentially eliminate safety hazards and concerns.
Maintaining foot traffic in your bay area landscaping is important for safety and traffic flow. Let’s CHAT about your commercial landscape maintenance service and how you can get the most value from a landscape management company, investing in a solid maintenance program. Give us a call any time at (408) 275.1200 — or click here and we’ll get in touch with you!
FloraTerra is a commercial landscaping company providing Landscape Management services including: Shopping Center Landscaping, Strip Mall Landscaping, R & D Developments, Luxury Apartment Landscaping, Residential Estate Landscaping, Home Owners Association Landscaping, Condominium Developments and Commercial Office Landscaping.
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