Locating Underground Services: What You Need To Know

It is probably fair to say that more than 90% of homeowners who have a garden never give a passing thought to what lies under their lawns or their flower beds, and yet there are things such as electricity cables, sewage pipes, water pipes, gas pipes, and so on that provide the necessary services into their homes.

Utility Mapping Training From Sygma Solutions

Before commencing any sort of excavation on a construction site, it is essential to undertake a thorough physical survey of the site using the required tools in order to establish what services and utilities there are underground and where they are. It is estimated that there are as much as 2.5 million kilometres of underground services in the UK, so they can literally be anywhere.

Sygma Solutions Provides HSG47 Training For Budding Underground Surveyors

Becoming a utility surveyor can be an interesting and rewarding job. It involves using various tools to locate and identify underground services – the type of service, where it runs, how close it is to other services, how deep it is under the ground surface, and so on – and then providing a report using computer software so that project managers on a construction site are able to avoid striking such utilities when commencing excavation.

Plans – Or STATS – From Utilities Must Never Be Taken As Gospel

Any contractor who is required to undertake any form of excavation work should understand that before putting a spade in the ground it is vital to carry out a thorough survey of the site in order to establish the location and type of any utilities that are there. There are still far too many cable strikes in the UK every year. Of the 4,000,000 excavations undertaken, some 60,000 such strikes occur.

Our HSG47 Course Teaches You How To Locate Underground Services

If you are someone who enjoys gardening as, according to research, some 27 million, or 42% of the adult population does, then you can see that you are in good company. Many of us love to produce our own fresh food on a veg plot or allotment, and also enjoy the almost unlimited choice of flowers and plants and trees that we can tend.

Sygma Solutions Courses In Underground Service Location Are Unparalleled

Depending upon whose figures you believe, there are anywhere between 1.5 million and 2.5 million kilometres of underground services in the UK. These can be water pipes, gas, electricity cables, sewage pipes, telecoms, fibreoptic, and many other types. Naturally, we do not want our landscape covered in such things, so burying them underground makes complete sense.

Our Cable Avoidance Training Leaves No Stone Unturned

Cable avoidance is an all-embracing term for the work required to avoid striking / damaging any sort of underground service, of which there are many. There are some 4 million ground excavations every year in the UK, leading to around 60,000 cable strikes. This may seem a small percentage, but the fact is that a large number of them cause injury to workers, and in some cases – around a dozen every year – are fatal.

Striking Underground Services When Digging Can Have Serious Repercussions

The accidental striking of underground services can have serious effects, including injury to workers carrying out digging, whether by hand or machine, and in some instances can result in death. Striking an 11,000-volt cable, for instance, is certainly going to result in issues.

However, even if there are no serious injuries, there can be other severe implications. At the very least, any work on the project has to be stopped until the utility company concerned can come out and repair the damage. So, you can have workers standing about idle. Depending upon the extent of the damage, repairs could take a considerable amount of time.

Investing In A CAT And Genny Requires Careful Consideration

If you are considering buying a Cable Avoidance Tool and/or a Signal Generator in order to detect underground services, there are many different manufacturers who produce a range of different models. Some of them are very good indeed, some not so good, and others perhaps – well, let’s not go there! So how do you go about picking the right tool for the job.

Checking For Underground Services Before Digging Is Essential

When undertaking any sort of work that requires digging, before you even pick up a spade, the first thing that is necessary is to check for underground services.

Despite what many people think, underground services – electricity cables, gas pipes, telecoms, fibre optics, water pipes, sewage, and many more – can be absolutely anywhere. That includes in your own back or front garden. If you stop to think about it, your home has electricity, water, and sewage pipes as an absolute minimum.