60,000 Cable Strikes A Year! That’s A BIG Number!

The construction industry is one of the most dangerous in which to work when it comes to injuries suffered and fatalities. Figures produced by the HSE show that there were an average 36 fatalities in construction from 2016 – 2021 (Source: RIDDOR, 2020/21). Of these, 50% are a result of falls from a height. However, around a dozen each year are the result of injuries suffered when striking underground services such as electricity cables, gas pipes, and so on.

When it comes to any sort of excavation work, it is estimated that there are some 4 million excavations carried out every year for the purpose of laying pipes or cables for new services and repairing existing ones, and this results in approximately 60,000 cable strikes each year. That may seem like a relatively small percentage, but nonetheless, 60,000 is a big number! You can very easily argue that it is 60,000 too many!

Why does this happen so often? Surely you can get plans from local utility companies in the site area and then you will know where cables and pipes run?

Well, yes and no. For any number of reasons, plans, or STATS as they are known, can often be inaccurate - not least because there is no unified way of keeping records - and sometimes they do not exist. You can use them as a guide, but you must treat them with caution.

The Answer Is A Thorough Underground Survey

 

The only answer is to undertake a thorough underground survey of the site before commencing any work, using the CAT and Genny, and also GPR.

But here’s the thing: figures from Safety & Health Practitioner in 2019 showed that of the 4 million excavations in 2017, only 2.25 million “involved a thorough search for pipes and cables before the work commenced”. That’s 44% of excavations that were carried out without a proper survey! Now you can begin to see why that figure of 60,000 cable strikes occurs.

At Sygma Solutions we provide HSG47 training (HSG47 is the guide produced by the HSE for safety when digging) which includes the use of the tools involved such as the C.Scope. Our C.Scope training teaches operatives the use of this tool in all modes, and importantly the limitations that it has. This is a vital constituent of our C.Scope training because all these tools - not just the C.Scope – can sometimes seem to indicate that nothing is on the site when it is!

So, our HSG47 training tells operatives what to look out for and how to handle it. For example, one situation is where the service is at a depth below which the tools can read! It is still there. So, we teach operatives to commence digging carefully down to about a foot, and then take another reading. This time around, it may well show the service.