Get Cable Avoidance and HSG47 Training by Sygma Solutions

Sygma Solutions, a reputable training provider, specialises in offering excellent buried utility location courses. The company is a CITB ATO-approved training provider- a badge that gives it an extra edge. While working with cable locator manufacturers, we decode Utility Surveying Knowledge and combine it with a range of foreign experiences. We are well known for reducing utility strikes with contractors and utility companies, for putting it succinctly. One-day cable location courses and five-day utility surveyor courses that include cable avoidance training approved by The Survey Association (TSA) are also available.

Before Digging On A Construction Project It Is Essential To Carry Out A Survey

When undertaking any type of digging on a construction project, or for that matter any other project, one has always to remember that, in the UK, and pretty much everywhere else, all of the utility services that we need run underground. From one point of view that is great because it means that the landscape is not cluttered up with cables and pipes running all over the place because they are out of sight.

Our Cable Avoidance Courses Follow The Guidance Of HSG47 Training

When you are engaged in any form of construction project, it all starts at ground level – literally. Or you could say, even below ground level, because every building of any description, unless it’s a garden shed, needs solid foundations. And that means digging.

HSG47 Is A Guide Issued By The HSE For Those Involved In Any Sort Of Excavation

HSG47 is the guide issued by the Health and Safety Executive for people who have to plan, manage, or carry out work on or near underground services. This applies to people who work for water supply companies, gas supply, telecoms, electricity, and others, and, of course, construction companies who are working on a project of a new building or buildings because the very first task is to dig down into the earth in order to build the foundations.

Our HSG47 Training Course Is Recognised By The Survey Association

Pretty much every kind of construction contract begins with excavation of the land. Every building needs foundations, and most need water, toilets, telephones, broadband, electricity, and in some areas, gas. All of this involves digging.

The problem is that when you start to dig there is always a chance of striking an underground service of some sort, even in out of the way areas where you might believe that there is nothing there. Fair enough, in residential areas and shopping districts you expect all these services to be present, but even then, you need to know exactly where they run in order to avoid damaging them.

Operatives Who Need To Locate Underground Services Need HSG47 Training

HSG47 is a document provided by the Health & Safety Executive with regard to the potential dangers of working near underground services, and provides advice on how to reduce the risks. It is aimed primarily at reducing risks to health and safety as opposed to the risk of damaging services, although by reducing the risk to health and safety one is automatically helping to reduce the risk of damage to services.

Constructing A Building Begins With Digging – And That Can Be Dangerous

The construction industry is one of the most dangerous for workers that there is. Accidents can happen for many different reasons, and they can literally happen from the ground up. A lot of heavy equipment is used. Scaffolding can cause issues with people falling from height. There can be problems installing electricity, gas, water, and so on.

But if you are constructing a building, you can have problems from the very first day because the first job is to build the foundations, and that means digging.

HSG47: What Is It All About?

HSG47 is a publication from the Health and Safety Executive aimed specifically at all those who are connected in any way with works or contracts that involve any excavation.

The fact is that it is generally estimated, although there are no definite figures since records are not kept, that there are over 4 million contracts involving excavation that take place across Britain every year. That is an awful lot of digging, and it results in around 60,000 cable strikes – strikes of underground services of all types, not just cables – each year. Many of these strikes result in serious injury to workers and in some cases are fatal. There are around a dozen fatalities each year.

Carrying Out Excavation Work Of Any Sort Can Be Dangerous

Probably the biggest danger to anyone involved in the construction industry where there is a need to carry out any sort of ground excavation work is the chance of hitting something underground such as an electricity cable, gas pipe, sewage pipe, and so on. The problem is that these underground services can be just about anywhere, including in some of the most unlikely situations.

HSG47: What You Need To Know About Excavations

Avoiding Danger From Underground Services HSG47 is a guide produced by the Health and Safety Executive and it does what it says on the tin. It is designed for people involved in “commissioning, planning, managing, and carrying out work on or near underground services”. It is also of use to owners and operators of such services. This is the latest (third) edition and was updated in 2014.