The Importance of Locating Underground Utilities Before Digging

Many public utilities are located underground and they deliver services to all the businesses and residents of a given community or area. From gas pipes to water lines and electric cables, various utilities are buried underground. To avoid damaging the buried assets, causing serious injuries to the workers and/or interruption of service, it is crucial that you detect the accurate location of the underground utilities before starting excavation work. If utilities are damaged, there might be hefty fines levied against companies or individuals who are responsible for the damage.

Below given are some of the important reasons why you must locate underground utility services before digging.

• To avoid cable strikes: In the UK, 60,000 cable strikes are reported on a yearly basis. These cable strikes mean great damage and loss to the utility companies, as well as, the company carrying out the excavation work. Cable strikes can sometimes be fatally injurious to the on-site workers. It can lead to disruption of services for a long time or until the cable lines or gas pipes have been replaced or repaired. Striking a cable also means that the construction company will have to pay compensation to the utility company for damaging their assets.
• To prevent danger to life: If your project involves digging, it is vital that you create a safe environment for the workers. Unless you know where the underground utilities are located, it is not wise to start the project. You will be putting the lives of workers in danger.
• To protect company reputation and prevent added expenses: If you are a company responsible for damaging or causing cable strike, it will lead to tarnishing your reputation. In addition to that, you will be asked to pay compensation for the damage caused. You might even have to pay for repairs or replacements. Also, your project will be stalled for the time until the utility services are not switched back on.

Since cable strikes are already a cause of concern in the UK, you should take every possible step to ensure that you do not damage any buried asset, especially when they can be avoided. There are various utility locators available on the market that can be used to avoid damaging the buried assets.

Before starting your digging project, you need to survey the area and make sure that all the underground utilities are detected and marked. This way your workers will know the areas to avoid when excavation starts. One of the most popular utility locator equipment used by professional surveyors is CAT and Genny.

CAT and Genny is a utility locator tool that is always used together. This is because CAT can only detect the services that are in use and has power running through them. Once the power is turned off, CAT is unable to detect the assets. On the other hand, Genny is a signal generator and it detects those services that have been turned off. Genny puts a signal to those assets so that CAT can detect and locate them.

Another tool that professionals use is VScan. This is a utility avoidance tool that has been specifically designed to make underground utility detection cost-effective and quick. This is an advanced tool with high-end features. Along with data logging, dual frequency transmitter, GPS and Bluetooth, VScan is made available in different models to suit various applications. If you want to know how to use this tool, you would need to get

VScan training from a professional company in the UK.

Enrolling for cable avoidance training for CAT and Genny or VScan is crucial to know the correct use of these cable avoidance tools. You cannot qualify as a surveyor if you do not have the certification and qualification. Also, without training, you will be putting the lives of the workers and the people working or residing in the nearby area of the excavation ground in danger. So, look for a training provider company and get certified.

The company is an approved ProQual Centre and can provide Cat and Genny training to the Level 2 Award in Utility Location and Avoidance.