One of the biggest safety and health dangers that workers face when working below the ground is making accidental contact with gas pipelines or electrical cables. If proper precautionary steps and preparations are not taken, these utility strikes can occur regularly and result in serious injury and even death. In the UK, tens of thousands of these strikes are believed to take place every year, which exposes workers to great risks including explosion and electrocution. The issue is disruptive and expensive, as well as, dangerous.

Utility strikes are both potentially fatal and costly. With more than sixty thousand strikes believed to occur in the UK annually, the need of the hour is the implementation of safe working practices.

So, what can be done to drive down the risks of utility strikes to the lowest possible levels? Below given are a few steps that can be considered.

Mapping of the excavation area

Preparation before commencing work on site is crucial if cable strikes are to be avoided. Also, everyone would agree that the right preparations are better.

Here, preparation means establishing the best possible mapping of the area that is going to be dug or excavated. You can make use of site maps to map the places where there are underground utility services. However, the maps are not the only thing that you should rely on as site maps are usually outdated and fail to show the precise locations of the buried services. What you need is a professional surveyor who is able to use CAT (cable avoidance tools) and Genny (signal generator). When these two equipment are used together, they are capable of detecting and locating the position of almost all buried utility services including electrical cables, wires, gas pipelines, sewage lines and so on.

However, after the excavation site has been mapped, you must ensure to carry out a physical reconnaissance. This should be done in order to double check the utility records and to make sure that there are no inconsistencies.

Cable avoidance training

CAT & Genny are sophisticated, complicated tools that are used to prevent underground utility strikes. As mentioned above, these equipment help in detecting, as well as, locating the accurate position where the utility services are buried. These tools are usually used by utility survey experts who have had the training and experience in using them correctly.

To maintain safe working practices, it is recommended that the utility survey experts undertake proper utility avoidance training from a professional training provider. It is only through training that they will be able to understand the use, as well as, the limitations of the CAT & Genny. Of course, the tools come with manuals and instructions, but that is not enough. Since utility survey experts have the responsibility of creating a safe working environment for the workers on site, they cannot take their job lightly. Based on their reports and findings, the digging will begin.

So, as you can see, it is possible to carry out an excavation project without any accidents or delay caused due to utility strikes. There are a number of companies providing cable avoidance training programmes that you can check out. These courses are specifically designed for amateur and experienced operatives and utility surveyors. By knowing where the underground utility services are buried, you can avoid those areas whilst digging.

Cutting down or being able to completely prevent utility strikes will be beneficial for your company in more ways than one. For starters, your workers will have more confidence whilst working on your project. Second, you will be able to prevent any kind of project delay or injuries at work owing to cable strikes. Third, you do not have to worry about reputation loss if there is no accident on site.

So, find a training provider and make sure that your workers are trained in cable avoidance in the UK.