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.

A Qualification In Cable Avoidance Enables You To Work On Sites Like HS2

When carrying out any sort of construction contract, unless it is a refurbishment project, there is one thing that is common to all, and that is that it is necessary to dig into the ground. Buildings need foundations. They also need all the services that a building requires – water, sewage pipes, telecoms, electricity, maybe gas, and more.

Striking Underground Services Can Cause Serious Injury And Even Be Fatal

HSG47 is issued by the Health & Safety Executive and is entitled “Avoiding Danger From Underground Services”. That says it all really, because avoiding striking underground services when carrying out any sort of excavation work is critical. Virtually all of our utilities run underground, and if you hit one of them, the very least that is going to happen is that the work will come to a halt and there is going to be a cost to restoring them.

Learn The Basics Of CAT And Genny Training Online

Every operative who is required to undertake site surveying for the purpose of locating and identifying underground services needs thorough training in the use of the CAT and Genny. These are clever tools, especially when used in combination, but you need to know and understand how to use them in their various modes, and most importantly, understand that they do have certain limitations, and what those limitations are.

CAT And Genny Training Is Essential For Operatives Who Need To Do Underground Surveys

Unintentionally striking underground services when carrying out any form of excavation work can cause life-changing injuries to construction workers and are sometimes fatal. It is calculated that there are some 4 million contracts involving excavation in the UK every year, and figures show that in 2017 only 2.25 million of these involved a thorough search for underground pipes and cables before the work began. That means that 44% of those excavations took place without any attempt to determine if there were buried assets where digging took place!

CAT And Genny Training: The Basics

Any sort of construction project which involves digging – which is the vast majority of construction projects – requires a considerable amount of planning before commencing work. Let’s face it, when you are constructing a building, the first thing that you need to do is to create the foundations. Certainly, some projects are concerned with restoring a building or changing it around for a new purpose, but any new build project is going to involve digging as the first stage of the work.

If You Need To Locate Underground Services, You Need An Approved Course

If you work in the construction industry and your job includes locating and identifying underground services on a site where excavation is due to take place, it is vital to undertake a CAT and Genny course such as those that we provide at Sygma Solutions.  

You cannot just take the CAT and Genny out of the box and read the instructions because there is far more to it than that. It would be just too easy to make mistakes without the proper training. For example, and we have said this before, but it is worth repeating, you might use the CAT and Genny and decide that there is nothing in the site where you are going to dig. So, you start digging away and suddenly hit a cable or gas pipe for instance.

Striking Underground Services Can Sometimes Be Fatal

Unintentionally striking underground assets while digging, such as electricity cables, gas pipes, water pipes, and so on, can result in life-changing injuries to construction workers involved. The problem is that underground services can be absolutely anywhere, even in places that one would think unlikely. Certainly, if you are in a residential area or the high street, then it is obvious that there will be electricity cables, water pipes, sewage pipes, telecoms, and maybe gas pipes, and more, but they can also be present in out of the way places in the countryside.

Utility Records Are Useful When Preparing To Dig, But Must Only Be Used As A Guide

Accidentally striking an underground service when carrying out any form of excavation work can have a huge impact on both the workers doing the digging and the owner of the utility. It is estimated that there are around 4 million excavations of one sort or another carried out every year in Britain, and they result in some 60,000 strikes of cables, gas pipes, telecoms, and so on.

Is There a Way to Reduce Cable Strikes?

Most professionals are of the belief that preparation is the best way to avoid cable strikes and the injuries that occur when this happens. While having appropriate protective gear is recommended, to limit the damage of explosions and electrocutions, this isn’t enough.

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