It is a fact that there are many, many miles of underground services in the UK, carrying electricity, gas, water, sewage, telephone cables, fibre-optics, and more. Nobody really knows exactly how many miles there are, but it is at least 1.5 million and may in fact be a lot more.
Furthermore, they can also be anywhere – even in what might seem like the most unlikely places. What that means is that wherever you are going to dig you first have to undertake a survey in order to see if there are any services there and where they run, how deep they are, if possible, and what sort of services they are.
For this, you need two tools – the CAT and Genny – used in combination. The CAT has different modes of detection but what it can locate on its’ own is limited. This is why the CAT has to be used in combination with the Genny – short for signal generator. The Genny can apply a signal to different types of utility which can then be detected by the CAT so when working together they will locate a lot more than using the CAT on its’ own. Even then, there are certain limitations which is why anyone undertaking survey work using the two tools needs to attend a CAT and Genny course in order to fully understand not only how they operate together, but also – possibly more importantly – what the limitations are.
It is possible for them to return a negative result when there is, in fact, a utility there. In terms of the amount of excavations carried out every year this doesn’t happen all that often, but nonetheless there are around 60,000 cable strikes every year, a dozen or so of them fatal, and quite a lot more causing serious injury, so a CAT and Genny training course is essential.
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