Avoid Million Dollar Damage To Underground Assets With Service Locating

In words of Ben Minutoli- a cable locations director-

"Damage to the underground assets is way too common. And with the excavators held liable for such damages, these mistakes can prove very costly- even dangerous!"

To support this, an incident took place in 2009 where a contractor (in the heart of Sydney) caused damage to underground assets. This caused inconvenience to thousands of businesses and homes in the CBD region where they had to stay without internet and telephones for an entire day.

As per the sources, the damage was due to a trench digger hitting eight fibre optic cables along with three main copper cables which totalled it to 10,000 pairs of wire.

Ben also pointed out -

" Along with excavators being too impatient or complacent in performing underground utility locating in Nowra, another common recipe for disaster was using staff members lacking in proper training."

So... Whats Are The Golden Rules To Digging?

Ben states that- following the rule of the four P's when performing excavation operations will ensure safer excavation operations.

Those Include:

• Planning:Proper planning is always important- especially in excavation operations. The right way would be to plan a couple of days before to get the facts correct. This will ensure a safe start to the project.

• Pothole/Hand Digging:Potholing, also known as hand-digging is a mode to help excavators establish the precise location of the existing underground utilities.

• Protecting:Safeguarding the structure and exposed infrastructure of the buried utilities is the excavator's responsibility. To guarantee this, erecting safety barriers in high-risk regions is a key thing to implement.

• Proceeding:Once all the above three steps are done, only then should contractors proceed with their project. However, they need to make sure that they have all their protective measures intact!

For Safe Exposure Of Underground Utilities- "Hydro Excavation" Is A Non-Destructive Option...

To carry out each of the above steps, excavation contractors tend to use advanced technology to get a clear knowledge of the existing utilities. Those include utility locating, ground penetrating radar, utility mapping, vacuum excavation, ground fault locating and concrete scanning.

In words of Bill-

"These inspections are important prior to excavating and one adequate mode of confined digging, exposing underground utility, removing tree roots, and working in tight spaces is hydro excavation."

Once the ground has been inspected thoroughly for underground utilities, hydro excavation techniques ought to be used to allow clean, quick and precise excavation operations. This technique is a high-pressure vacuuming clean pits, remove rail ballast, conduit cleaning, removing debris and more.

Final Words:

These days digging parallel to buried utilities is a common strategy used by excavators to mitigate risks or damages. Additionally, top service providers tend to use more of non-destructive digging (NDD) and hydro vacuum excavation to complete their client's project.

For those who have an excavation work pending, they will find different service authorities recommending vivid digging methods. Don't get tempted. Do research and possibly find a company specialising in underground service locating in Wollongong along with hydro excavation techniques.

These experts are more likely to ensure the task is completed without any damage to underground utilities.