Some Notes about the Energy and Utility Skills Register

EUSR stands for the Energy and Utility Skills Register and is an independent skills platform providing recognised standards for the utility sector. It is run by Energy and Utility Skills which is the sector skills body for the water, waste management, gas, and electricity industries. It also provides the EUSR card which is used to allow utility workers to access a site and is an alternative to the CSCS card.

EUSR has a wide range of schemes that have been developed in conjunction with the management of employers and stakeholders across the energy and utility sector, and one such standard is the Utility Excavations scheme which covers, among other things, location of utility services, and implementation of safe (digging) excavating practices. Training and assessment against each standard gains an individual a registration on EUSR.

Companies providing training to EUSR standards and that are recognised by the EUSR provide such courses as an EUSR CAT and Genny course, EUSR cable avoidance course, and an EUSRhsg47 course, HSG47 being the third edition of Avoiding Danger From Underground Services published by the HSE. HSG47 provides guidance to all those involved in the planning, commissioning, managing, and carrying out of work on or near underground services. It outlines the potential dangers of working near underground services and gives advice on how to reduce any direct risks to people's health and safety, as well as the indirect risks arising through damage to services.

HSG47 covers the three basic elements of safe excavation which are planning the work, locating underground services, and safe excavation.