Questions to Ask When Choosing Cable Avoidance Tools

If you are working with or within the underground utility sector, or breaking ground, you are likely to come across the recommendation of using cable avoidance tools. With the help of these tools, you can avoid striking an underground cable or wiring, and therefore, prevent any kind of injury or project delay. However, there are certain important questions that you need to ask when choosing cable avoidance tools.

• Will you use the CAT in isolation or with Genny?: This is a trick question because best practice demands that you always use CAT and Genny together. In isolation, CAT can only detect live power cables. With Genny, it can detect cables and wires that do not have current flowing through them.
• Over what distance do you need to trace buried utilities?: The industry-standard detection frequencies are 8khz and 33khz. However, there are more advanced models available in the market today that can emit additional frequencies and allow you to detect signals over much longer distances.
• Do you need to store data for analysis?: If you are simply using cable avoidance tools for marking up the ground, you can get a standard CAT & Genny. However, if you want to store data for future analysis, you need an advanced model.

The last question you need to ask is whether you are competent enough to use CAT & Genny. If you or anyone on your team does not have expertise in using cable avoidance tools, it is advised that you undertake a cable avoidance training course.