Carrying out any sort of excavation work requires a considerable amount of planning and forethought before even putting a spade into the ground. Strictly speaking, you should probably consider learning where the electricity cables, water pipes, and sewage pipes run into and out of your home through the front garden, but it is not likely that you will hit anything if you are just planting a few shrubs. However, if you are going to have an extension built, then you need to know where everything is before digging out foundations. Not only is a cable strike dangerous, but it can also finish up costing a lot of money.

Of course, when conducting excavation of any sort on other land there can be multiple risks. It is estimated that there are anywhere between 1.5 million km and 4 million km of underground services in the UK, depending upon whom you believe. What we DO know is that there are somewhere around 60,000 cable strikes of underground services every year which is somewhere between 1.5% and 4% of all contracts – depending on the figures. A lot of those cable strikes result in injuries to workers and are sometimes fatal. Many injuries are severe enough to mean that the individual concerned may never work again.

This in turn results in huge claims for compensation, which is not surprising. The HSE reports that a company was required to pay £210,000 in fines and costs after a worker was killed in an explosion following damage to an 11,000-volt live cable. The company had not informed the workers that there was a live cable there and had failed to take adequate measures to prevent them being damaged.

The HSE published its’ third edition of guidance on avoiding danger from underground services in 2014 and it runs to 40 pages. That may not sound like a lot but there is a lot of small print on the pages and it would take you a long time to go through it all, detail by detail, so that you completely understand it. However, it is essential that any contractor undertaking such work should do so. The fact that there are 60,000 cable strikes a year shows that there are certainly some contractors who do not.

Of course, we have tools such as the CAT and Genny that can help considerably to keep down the number of cable strikes when used correctly. Nothing is 100% perfect, but the emphasis here is that the tools need to be used correctly and operatives using them also need to be aware of any pitfalls and limitations. This is why we provide full training in the use of the CAT and Genny at Sygma Solutions. Our whole business is based around providing training to the highest standards in the industry so that cable strikes are avoided. We also supply and service equipment for one of the biggest manufacturers, Mala, who manufacture the Easy Locator range. We are their sole UK distributors.

The Mala Ground Penetrating Radar machines are rugged and have exceptional data collection abilities. They are also foldable and can be popped into the back of an estate car for easy transport from one site to another.

These machines have revolutionised the utility locating industry and are now the tools of choice for surveyors world-wide. The fact is that more and more buried utilities are being installed as the world population increases and more homes are required. Many of these utilities are non-metallic and cannot be found by conventional machines. Ground penetrating radar is the only solution that does not rely on electromagnetic radiation from the utility and nor does it need a physical connection to the utility.

The Mala machines include an easy user interface which provides almost complete automation of the settings and minimal input from the operator in order to begin collating data. They have two antenna frequencies which are optimised for the depth and the resolution required for locating utilities.

At Sygma Solutions we have a fully stocked workshop at our premises in Hindley, Wigan, and all the necessary parts. We provide regular maintenance and calibration for the Mala machines and we can offer a quick turnaround time.

We also have five almost new Mala Easy Locator IXM units for hire, with the very latest software and the 3D grid option. Our hire rates are unbeatable.