According to LineSearch BeforeUDig (LSBUD), it is estimated that there are some 4 million excavations taking place across Britain every year. These may be by water companies, gas companies, telecoms, sewage works, electricity suppliers, and more. However, LSBUD also says that in 2017 only 2.25 million excavations were preceded by a thorough search for underground pipes or cables before the work commenced. That means that a shocking 44% of all excavations took place without a proper search.

When you look at those figures, it is hardly surprising that it is estimated that there are some 60,000 cable strikes or strikes of other underground services every year. Furthermore, that figure is only an estimate too. It is probable that the actual number is higher because a lot of strikes may go unreported for one reason or another.

Of course, the problem with this is that striking underground services can result in serious injury for the workers involved and can even be fatal. There are around one dozen fatalities every year as a result of cable strikes, and many more which result in severe injury. Figures for July to September last year (2020) show that there were 475 cable strikes reported which was an increase of 20% over the same quarter of 2019 (Cable strikes jump 20% since lockdown) . It was not clear whether this was due to a rise in utility and roadworks or whether construction workers returning from furlough were neglecting basic safety procedures.

However, the Energy Networks Association released figures at the same time that showed that 93% of workers considered that they always dig safely, yet at the same time 31% admitted that they didn’t always check for underground electricity cables before commencing work. 15% of those people though that it was not their responsibility to check, and 24% said that they didn’t think they would dig deep enough to hit anything!

This Only Refers To Electricity Cables

Bear in mind that these figures are only referring to electricity cable strikes. You can suffer from serious injuries by striking gas pipes, and even water pipes can cause injury if they are under pressure. A jet of water can also contain stones and other items from the soil in which the pipe is buried. Gas pipes can obviously cause fire and explosion. Sewage pipes can contain contaminants that can cause illness.

Telecoms and fibreoptics are less likely to cause injury, but of course, the consequent loss of these can shut down the factories, offices, and shops which rely on them.

Then there is the delay on site. Even if there are no other issues, the contract comes to a grinding halt until the utility concerned can send someone out to repair the damage. This can result in penalties for the contractor and claims for compensation from businesses who have lost time and money as a result.

It should not need saying, but it is vital that a thorough search for underground services must be carried out before ever inserting a spade into the ground. This means that a trained surveyor is required to carry out the inspection to locate and identify any sort of services in the area that is to be excavated using the CAT and Genny.

Surveyors undertaking such work need to have taken a CAT course in order to understand how to use the equipment in all modes and in particular to understand that these tools do have certain limitations. At Sygma Solutions, we provide a CAT course which covers absolutely everything that you need to know before taking a survey. Our team has over 100 years of combined experience in the location of underground services and can provide the training that you need.