Training in the Use of Tools for Detecting Underground Services is Essential

It is a fact that wherever you may be in the UK – even standing in the middle of a field – there may well be underground services just under your feet. Electricity cables run pretty much everywhere, as do water pipes, sewer pipes, and telecoms, and perhaps to lesser extent gas pipes and other services.

In your local high street or council estate, it is obvious that most of them will be there, but even out in the countryside, it may be that one of the utilities decided upon a certain direction for its’ services which may not be apparent to us.

If you are a contractor who needs to excavate, you can obviously ask all the local utility providers for plans. Unfortunately, these are not always accurate, and in some cases non-existent. If they were perfect, there wouldn’t be some 60,000 cable strikes a year in the UK – and, yes, you read that figure correctly.

Of those utility strikes, many cause serious injury and around a dozen every year are fatal. This is why it is essential to undertake a thorough survey before even putting a spade into the ground, let alone a JCB.

Fortunately, we have a choice of many tools to help us locate, detect, and identify underground services, but unfortunately, it is not just a case of taking them out of the box and reading the instructions. If only it were that easy!

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The Advice Provided By HSG47.

HSG47 is a guide issued by the Health & Safety Executive, which is aimed at all those involved in commissioning, planning, managing, and carrying out work on or near underground services. The HSE says that it will also be of use to the owners and operators of such services.

The guide outlines the potential dangers of working on or near such services with regard health and safety. It also gives advice on reducing any such dangers and refers to the indirect risks arising through damage to services.

Possibly the best piece of advice that the guide gives is that all operators should assume that underground services are there unless they have been shown otherwise. Underground services can be found anywhere. Some places are obvious, such as the high street or a residential area. There will be electricity cables, water pipes, telecoms, and sewers as an absolute minimum, but there could also be gas and other pipes.

Striking an electricity cable can cause serious injury, or even be fatal, while, striking a gas pipe can easily cause an explosion. Even a water pipe can cause injury, since water under pressure can hurl stones and other debris out of the earth. It could also cause serious flooding and perhaps collapse the sides of an excavation while it has men working in it.

Striking a telephone cable may not cause direct injury, but will considerably inconvenience the local populace, and may result in claims for damages. For example, it could shut down a business because it cannot get on to the internet which could result in considerable loss.    

Before undertaking any excavation, the first point of call must be the local utilities for plans of where their cables and pipes run. However, such plans should not be taken as gospel since they are not always accurate and, in some cases, may not exist.

All surveyors undertaking the location of underground services should attend an HSG47course which will show them how to use the CAT and Genny in all modes in order to locate services. Such a course will also explain the limitations of the equipment and how to avoid making any mistakes because of those limitations. 

When Carrying Out Excavation It Is Essential To Avoid Underground Services

When you are going to undertake any sort of work which involves excavation or digging, it is essential to take every precaution possible in order to avoid striking one of the many services that run underground. There are a lot of different services that can run underground, but the main ones are electricity, water, sewage, and gas. Striking any one of those can be serious and result in severe injury and in some cases death. There are also telecoms which are unlikely to cause injury, but which could still cause serious disruption.

This is why it is necessary to undertake a full survey of the area in which you are going to excavate before so much as putting a fork or spade in the ground. The first thing to do is to contact the utilities in the area and get the plans. However, these must only ever be used as a guide. They may not be complete. They may not be accurate, Furthermore, there may be no plans available.

Any surveyor endeavouring to locate underground services needs to make use of the CAT and Genny. A surveyor must also understand how to use them in combination and in all modes in order to be as accurate as possible, but also needs to understand their limitations. They do have certain limitations.

For instance, it is possible for them to give a negative reading when there is, in fact, something there. Depending on the machine being used, some will only give a reading to a certain depth. That means that you could think there is nothing there when there actually is, but it is deeper than the machine can read.

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