One of the biggest dangers facing any workers who need to work below ground is the issue of cable strikes. While one might think that this refers only to electric or telephone cables, in fact it is an over-arching term used to refer to striking any sort of utility – water, gas, cable tv, and so on – as well as power cables.

There are multiple problems associated with the location of underground services because it is estimated that there are around 4 million excavations in the UK every year, and these result in around 60,000 cable strikes. It is thought that there are anywhere between 1.5 million km and 2.5 million km of underground services, depending whose figures you believe, so they can be just about anywhere. Part of the problem is that there is also no unified mandatory reporting structure, and this means that very many strikes go unreported.

Cable strikes can cause serious injury and on occasion are fatal. On average there are around a dozen fatalities every year, with many more workers suffering life-changing injuries. Even where no injury is caused, the costs of repair of damaged utilities can run into huge sums, and there can also be penalties for contractors responsible – or at least, nominally responsible. As one example, there was a case recently recorded by the HSE where an employee died as a result of an explosion when he struck an 11,000-volt cable. The company had actually noted that there were live cables but had not informed the workers. It was duly fined £210,000.

Furthermore, there is no structure for record keeping and all the different utilities use different methods of recording their services. Even within the same utility, say electricity, for instance, one electricity board may have a completely different way of storing records from another. Since there is no legal obligation to record strikes, the way that they are categorised can vary so wildly that it is impossible to collate all the data.

In addition to that, it is suspected, probably quite correctly, that since there is no legal obligation, there may very well be companies who cover up an issue in order to avoid all the possible investigations and associated costs and fines that could follow.

On top of that, record keeping can be inaccurate and things may change without a record being kept. For instance, it is known that there have been cases of secondary gas pipes being laid next to, or even above or below an existing pipe. The old pipelines are recorded, but the new ones have not been added.

Then there are cases of out and out cheating. A contractor may have been required to lay a cable at a certain depth by the utility company, but in order to save time and money may lay it at a shallower depth. For the same reason, it may have been required to remove an old utility but has actually left it in place, so the records show that there is nothing there even though there is.

Then there is the issue of records themselves. They may have originally been recorded as a drawing that then became a microfiche that then became a computer record, and errors can creep in as records are transferred from one system to another.

All of this means that you cannot possibly rely on the records. Certainly, the first thing to do is to obtain whatever records the utility companies concerned may have, but they most certainly cannot be relied on. They are really only a guide. This is why it is essential to undertake a thorough survey using the CAT and Genny in order to obtain as accurate information as possible before beginning to dig.

At Sygma Solutions we provide a complete utility surveyor training course over a five-day period which covers everything that you need to know about using the CAT and Genny and includes all of the little quirks that can occur, as well as the limitations of the tools – and they do have certain limitations. Our course is recognised by The Survey Association, and also the CSCS and the CITB. The course is now available not only at our premises in Wigan or your own location, but also online in a live format and with a very limited number of attendees so that all can have the benefit of outstanding training in the same way as you would in the classroom.