Cable Avoidance Training Is Essential For Surveyors Checking For Underground Services

Underground services can be found and disturbed during street works, road works, excavations, drilling and piling, demolition and site remediation, site investigations, and any other work that involves penetrating the ground, and yet a survey has shown that almost one third (31%) of construction workers admit that they do not always check for underground electricity cables or other services before starting an excavation.

100 Years’ Experience In The Location Of Underground Services

At Sygma Solutions we have a combined experience of over 100 years in the use of cable locators and utility detection techniques, and we are delighted to pass on our acquired knowledge to operatives who need to carry out surveys in order to locate and identify underground services before any excavation work is carried out.

Our CAT training courses are hands-on and will teach operatives in the classroom everything that they need to know in order to operate the CAT and Genny in combination and locate any type of underground service so that excavation can be carried out in a safe and controlled manner.

Advice From The HSE On Avoiding Dangers From Excavation Works

HSG47 is a guide issued by the Health and Safety Executive that provides advice on the dangers of striking underground services when carrying out excavation work and how to avoid doing so. At Sygma Solutions, our HSG47 course goes into great detail about this because it is critically important to avoid striking underground services.

HSG47 Is The Guidebook Provided By The HSE On Safe Excavation Practices

HSG47 is the guidebook produced by the Health & Safety Executive concerning the safe working practices that are needed when undertaking any form of excavation. The current edition is the third one and was updated in 2014.

The HSE has a Code of Practice which states that the aim of the Code is to improve the level of safety with which excavation work is carried out. In particular, the purpose is to avoid damage to underground services which will, in turn, minimise any danger to those carrying out such work. It “is intended to provide practical guidance to utility/service providers, clients, designers, planners, project supervisors (both design process and construction stage), contractors, safety representatives, and any personnel who are involved in work where there is a risk from underground services.”

Our Courses Include The Limitations of Cable Avoidance Tools

At Sygma Solutions our mission is to teach operatives everything – and we mean EVERYTHING – that they need to know about cable avoidance when undertaking any kind of excavation work, and about the cable avoidance tools that are used. This includes their limitations, and they do have certain limitations. If you are not aware of them, it can lead to drawing the wrong conclusions about the location of underground services.

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Reasons For Using The CAT & Genny For Location Of Buried Services

Any contractor undertaking any sort of excavation work, even if it only involves using hand tools, should carry out a survey of the area in order to locate underground services. There are some 1.5 million kms of underground services running under pavements and highways alone, and in order to repair and maintain these, the utility companies and Local Highways Authorities between them undertake over 3.5 million street works every year.

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HSG47 Training. What’s It All About?

Many people are unsure what HSG47 training is all about. HSG47 is the guide to commissioning, planning, managing, and carrying out work on or near to underground services, that is produced by the Health and Safety Executive. The latest edition, which is the third, was produced in 2014 and still stands today.

The HSG47 course that we provide here at Sygma Solutions trains all those involved in the location and identification of underground services to the standard laid down by HSG47.

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An Overview Of The Sygma Solutions CAT And Genny Course

If you are a surveyor who needs to undertake surveys in order to locate underground utilities, you need to attend a proper training course in the correct use of the CAT and Genny in all of their modes. Sygma Solutions is the leading provider of CAT and Genny training in the UK and can offer courses here at our centre in Wigan or at your site anywhere in the UK.
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Cable Avoidance Training Is Critical For Contractors Undertaking Groundwork

Any contractor undertaking excavations of any description must be aware of the possibility, or indeed the likelihood, of underground cables and utilities that are at the precise point, or very close to, where the excavation has to take place. In fact, the problem should be approached from the point of view that there are very likely to be underground utilities and cables, rather than the fact that it is unlikely.

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Cable Avoidance Training From Sygma Solutions

Cable strikes are running at about an average of 60,000 every year in the UK as a result of contractors digging without knowledge of underground utilities. That is an average of 165 every single day of the year and, at best, results in a delay on the contract while the utility sends workers to resolve the problem. A cable strike can also result in minor injury, serious injury, and in a handful of cases, fatalities.

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