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.

Cable Avoidance Training Is Essential If You Need To Locate Underground Services

Any type of construction work requires a lot of thought and planning before it ever begins, and we don’t just mean the architectural side of things. When you build anything much larger than a garden shed, the first physical work involves digging down into the ground in order to construct the foundations, but that also requires planning.

There are underground services all over the place, and they can be anywhere, even in situations where you might be forgiven for thinking that there would not be any. Quite obviously they will be present in an industrial or residential estate, and in your local high street, shopping centre, and so on. But out in the middle of a field? Yes. They could be. As we have said before, that field might just be the shortest route from one village to another. Or there could be a property tucked away half a mile down a lane.

Underground Site Surveys Are Essential Before Commencing Excavation

Depending upon whose figures you believe, the UK has at least 1.5 million kilometres of underground services – gas, electricity, water, telecoms, sewage, and several others – although other figures put it at as much as 2.5 million kilometres.

Either way, that is a lot of underground services, and they can be just about anywhere, including places where you might not expect them to be. If you are in a town centre, then you know full well that they will be all over the place, but you might not think that you would find them in a field or a dead-end lane out in the country. However, they can still be there. As the advice in HSG47, the guide to underground services from the HSE, says “assume they are present unless you have been shown otherwise”.

Thorough Training Is Needed In Order To Fully Understand The CAT And Genny

One of the biggest dangers in the construction industry is that of injury to workers. There are dangers at all stages of a project that need to be managed in order to minimise the ever-present possibilities of injury or death. Accidents occur all the time.

Virtually every construction project begins with excavation of the ground in order to build foundations for a building and to lay service pipes and cables. The problem is that in very many cases on a building site, there may well be existing services that run across it or alongside it and it is essential to avoid hitting these with a pick, shovel, or for that matter a JCB.

Our Courses Enable You To Obtain Your Qualification In Cable Avoidance

At Sygma Solutions we provide the training that you need if you have to undertake underground surveys for hidden services so that you can locate and identify them before a company begins any sort of excavation work.

Just about every building contract starts with digging into the ground in order to construct foundations and install services – water, electricity, telecoms, sewage, gas, and so on – and it is vital to avoid striking any existing services. They can be anywhere. So, it is essential to know, as far as is humanly possible, what they are and where they are.

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.

Why Sygma Solutions CAT And Genny Training Is Critical Knowledge

Just about every service we need – electricity, gas, telecoms, water, sewage pipes, and so on – runs underground. Back in the day – 60 or so years ago – telephone lines ran on telegraphs poles, but today even those are mostly underground. Out of sight, out of mind.

That’s all very well, but many of them are out of mind when it comes to digging into the soil for whatever reason. Constructing a new building, repairing an existing service, or whatever else you need to do, even if it is only digging some holes to put fence poles in, there is always the chance of striking some underground service if you are not careful. And let’s face it: there are a lot of underground services. 2.5 million kilometres of them at the latest count.

Why A Site Survey Is Essential Before Carrying Out Any Excavation Work

WFH – Working From Home – has become the norm for many people today. This seems to be especially true if you happen to be a civil servant, but many businesses have people who now only come into the office on one or two days a week, working on the kitchen table, or wherever, for the rest of the time.

However, if there is no broadband and you are working from home, you are then unable to work. Period. And your broadband can disappear in a flash if some workers carrying out an excavation of any sort should cut the cables. This is just one of the issues resulting from striking underground services of any sort.

What You Need To Know In Order To Become A Level 5 Utility Surveyor

At Sygma Solutions we are sometimes asked why we provide so much training in the area of location and identification of underground services.

The answer is that, while you need a CAT and Genny, you can’t just go to a supplier and buy one of each, take them out of the box, and read the instructions. You have to learn how to use them in all their different modes, and you also have to learn that they have certain limitations. If you don’t understand what those limitations are, and you don’t know what to do in a given set of circumstances, you could land yourself in hot water.

What Is The Right Cable Avoidance Tool (CAT) For Your Needs?

If you are in the market for a Cable Avoidance Tool, you need to be aware of certain differences in the various models – and there are quite a lot of them. The CAT should always be used in conjunction with a Genny – signal generator – and not in isolation.

Why? Because a CAT on its’ own in power mode can only detect live electricity cables – i.e. with power flowing through them. So, if you are working in the high street in the dark when the streetlights are on you shouldn’t have too much trouble locating the cables that are feeding them. If you are working in the same street in daylight, when the lights are off, you probably won’t find them at all.