Undertaking any sort of groundwork comes with a set of risks, and those risks can vary according to where you are and how deep you need to dig. If you are out in the country in the middle of a field, the amount of risk is relatively low. One might think there is no risk, but there is always the possibility, however remote, that you could strike an underground cable of one sort or another. Why? Quite simply because a utility may have found that the shortest route from point A to point B is across the said field and that they have installed their cable, or whatever, there for that reason.

If you are going to dig in the High Street, then it is fairly obvious that there will be a very good chance of striking a utility cable or pipe unless you know exactly where they all run, so that you can avoid them. Let’s face it: in High Street, you have electric cables, water pipes, sewage pipes, possibly gas pipes, telephone cables, fibre optics, and there can be more.

No matter where you are if you are going to break ground you should always undertake a survey first – even in the middle of that field. You just never know.

What is astounding is the number of contractors who blithely dig away without carrying out a survey! This would help to account for the number of cable strikes that occur every year, come rain or shine, which total around 60,000. At the very least, they cause damage and delays on a contract. In the worst cases, there are around a dozen fatalities every year. In between, there are many injuries suffered by workers, quite a number of them life-changing. And all because someone chose to dig without carrying out a survey, or perhaps did do so but was unable to locate the utility that was hit for one reason or another.

This is why it is not only essential to undertake a survey before a spade ever hits the ground, but also to have a total understanding of the various pieces of equipment that are used. Moreover, it is not sufficient just to have an understanding of the tools – the CAT and Genny being the main ones – but in addition, their limitations. And they do have limitations. So, you need training in how to use them and also training in why they may give a false reading or no reading when there is, indeed, a utility present. And training is what we provide at Sygma Solutions.

One of the tools that are used for locating underground services is the Mala Radiodetection RD8100. We provide Radiodetection training in the use of this which is primarily for the location of cables, metallic pipes, and other metallic services since it works on electromagnetic principles. Thus, it cannot detect polyethene water and gas pipes and other non-metallic services.

The RD8100 has five custom made precision ground antennae for extreme accuracy. It has iLOC remote transmitter control which allows the user to control the transmitter’s power and frequency from as much as 450 yards away, which means that you can spend more time on-site locating, and less on walking. It also has a shallow locate warning which will provide both visual and audio warnings of shallow cables and pipes.

Not only that, but the RD8100 can be set up, updated, and calibrated from your PC. It also works perfectly well in noisy electrical environments such as near or under power cables or electricity substations. You can also add positional data with the integrated GPS.

At Sygma Solutions, the cable avoidance training that we provide is second to none and is recognised by The Survey Association, CITB and the EUSR. Our courses take place both in the classroom and out on-site for practical training. The classroom courses that we offer are now also available online. These courses are always live and completely interactive so that attendees can ask questions and make their own comments.

Between us, our team has over 100 years of experience in carrying out underground surveys, and this knowledge is passed on to everyone attending one of our courses.