Energy Networks is urging construction workers to be careful onsite and ‘Plan Ahead, Look Around’ after over 70 serious electrical incidents were reported in the past year.
 
Latest figures from across the area SP Energy Networks operates in show that 74 reports were submitted to its health and safety team relating to accidents on construction sites alone.
 
The number of incidents highlights the risks for workers on sites, with an average of five people tragically dying each year across the UK due to accidental contact with underground or overhead electrical lines.
 
Use of heavy-duty machinery and vehicles mean that construction workers are often in close contact with power lines, which can be easily forgotten about among busy daily schedules and operations.
 
It is essential to  plan ahead to avoid the risk of vehicles either driving into power lines or tippers coming into contact with overhead lines.
 
SP Energy Networks’ safety campaign is being backed by leading construction organisations including the Home Builders Federation, the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) and Homes for Scotland, who are encouraging members and construction workers to follow the safety advice on offer.
 
Derek Bell, Health & Safety Director at SP Energy Networks, said: “Work on construction sites can be very fast paced so it’s incredibly important that workers are aware of electrical hazards on site before any activity starts.
 
“By planning ahead and ensuring teams are aware of electrical hazards, it helps minimise the risk of accidents, which can often occur due to workers striking power lines they’re unaware of.
“Our campaign aims to raise awareness of electrical risks and share free safety advice that can help prevent accidents.”
 
SP Energy Networks is sharing the following safety guidelines:
 

• Carry out a risk assessment in accordance with HSE Guidance Note HS (G) 47, ‘Avoiding Danger from Underground Services’ and GS6 ‘Avoiding danger from overhead power lines’.
• Ensure you have up-to-date plans of underground services in the area – SP Energy Networks can supply these if you don’t have them. 
• Include the 105 electrical emergency hotline on your site plans and in your list of telephone contacts; workers can also save it in their mobiles.
• Always scan the area you intend to excavate using a Cable Avoidance Tool (CAT) and Genny.
• Be aware that the actions of third parties could have altered cable depths or positions since the cables were laid. 
• Mark cable positions using waterproof road paint or another permanent marker.

 
Kieran Walker, Technical Director at Home Builders Federation, said: “Electrical hazards can pose a serious risk for our network of home builders if the correct processes are not followed. We urge our members to remain cautious when operating near power lines and to follow the advice provided by SP Energy Networks to avoid future incidents.”
 
Ed Evans, Director of CECA Wales, said: “Our civil engineering workers operate in difficult and dangerous environments and their safety is our top priority. We would urge them to take on board this important advice from SP Energy Networks alongside their own rigorous procedures”
 
Jane Wood, Chief Executive at Homes for Scotland, said: “As ongoing supporters of this campaign, the guidance highlighted continues to be a very useful resource to support our members. By collaborating to raise awareness about electrical risks and the ways to avoid them, we can help to save lives.”
 
SP Energy Networks provides free safety advice for those planning to work near power lines and underground cables. It keeps the power flowing for over 3.5m homes and businesses throughout Central & Southern Scotland and Merseyside, Cheshire, North & Mid-Wales and North Shropshire.
 
For further information visit: https://www.spenergynetworks.co.uk/pages/safety.aspx

The 4th of July marks an important awareness week for us at USAG, National Safe Digging Week.
 
As asset owners and operators, a considerable amount of digging activity is carried out to install, maintain and repair our critical assets. By adopting safe digging practices, we can ensure that our workers stay safe, and our network undamaged, as well as the rest of the UK’s underground infrastructure by association.
 
Through initiatives such as National Safe Digging Week, there has never been more awareness around the benefits of searching before digging. Construction workers, contractors and the general public are now more conscious of what pipes and cables might lie beneath them, keeping people and networks safer than ever.
 
In fact, it is surprising that, whilst they are now in the minority, there are still some utility network operators not sharing their asset information through a collaborative and central service.  Added to that, there are people who are happy to dig ‘blind’. The ramifications of both can be huge.
 
To help spread some safe digging awareness, we have highlighted the top five consequences of ‘digging blind’:
 
1. Serious Injury/death 
It should go without saying but striking an electricity cable or a gas/high pressure fuel pipeline can result in serious injury, or fatality. Given that it takes less than two minutes to perform an asset search, and anyone can undertake a search, there is no barrier to doing the right thing.
 
2. Costly repairs 
Asset strikes not only cause damage to pipes and cables and harm to the person/people doing the digging, but they are also incredibly costly, hitting businesses hard in the pocket.
 
In the latest Digging Up Britain report, it suggests that, based on research by the University of Birmingham, the true cost of a utility strike is almost 29 times more than the direct cost of the strike. This means that the true cost of a 'typical' £3,000 utility strike is nearly £90,000.
 
3. Substantial flooding 
There is a perception that ‘hitting’ a water pipe is less significant than striking an electricity cable or high pressure fuel line, but this is far from the truth. The implications are just different. There may be less of an initial risk to life when a water pipe bursts, but the damage can still be substantial and implications to customers served by the network very significant.  
 
In 2019, a farmer from Derbyshire hit a water pipe whilst knocking in some fence posts, causing a 100ft ‘wall of water’. This triggered floods that cascaded down to neighbouring villages and caused severe damage to homes, businesses and livelihoods.
 
 4. Cutting Off Critical Utilities 
Third party damage is one of the main contributors to outages, leaving neighbourhoods and residents unable to perform necessary, everyday tasks. This causes disruption to communities and embarrassment to the ‘culprit’. Plus, it has a real and costly impact on the utility provider, leaving reputations in tatters, or with them fundamentally not able to supply a service to their customers.
 
5. No broadband, no WFH 
With working from home becoming increasingly popular, especially post-COVID, having a reliable broadband connection is essential. Simply put, if there is no service, people are not able to do their job.
 
So, minimising disruption and avoiding any fibre/cable damage from third parties is crucial. This is easily done with a quick search.
 
With these top five implications in mind, we encourage all companies within the Utility Industry to join us in recognising the importance of safe digging, and the start of National Safe Digging Week from Monday 4th July. Let’s raise awareness and remember, always ‘search before you dig’.
 
To find out more about the upcoming awareness week, please visit:

https://lsbud.co.uk/national-safe-digging-week/
 

Before excavation works, all existing utilities were sprayed and marked up as per safe dig drawings.

Independent 3rd Party specialist carries out initial marking. All teams have a hard copy of utility plans at work, including the Gas utility prints.

Utility plans showed a 3inch gas main running down the far side of the road in front of the houses; the plans do not show individual house services.

Surface marking on the road was in line with the gas inlet points as would be expected and in line with standard practice.

The excavation was carried out with an excavator and banksman. The team did not see any changes in ground conditions as they removed the surrounding ground. The banksman then noticed that a 22mm gas service PE pipe passed the trench at 45 degrees had been damaged as it was rising slightly at one end.
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Gas service was over 3 metres away from the line of the gas tap on the footpath.

The asset owner registering the service pipes on the drawings would have been a real help. However, we would like to ask YOUR OPINION!
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What would you have done to avoid this accident?

This year the Excavation Safety Conference held in the US has gone global and virtual. It is a chance for individuals and organisations involved in damage prevention and avoiding utility strikes to learn and share practices by networking with industry peers from across the pond and further afield.

Click here to visit the website to learn more and register for tickets. The event is hosted by Infrastructure Resources with registration supported by PelicanCorp and their global damage prevention platform.

​We are pleased to present to the industry the latest Utility Strike Avoidance Group (USAG) Utility Strike Damages Report for data reported to us for the 2019 calendar year. This years report is drawn on data from more than 2500 seperate strike incidents reported by 44 of our members.

The report is compiled from 16 questions for each strike and provides a snapshot and highlights trends and patterns of utility damage in the industry. With this data your organisation is able to review where you can focus your efforts and resources in order to drive down utility strikes and improve health and safety outcomes for your workers.

Once again we thank all those that participated in compiling this years report by providing data and a special mention to the following members for their input to the report Richard Broome, Phil Cornforth, Stephen Crossland, Nicole Metje, Andy Rhoades

In an online format LSBUD are presenting a series of discussion forusm for all industry professionals keen to understand the right survey option for each work site.

In the first of the Damage Prevention Thought Leadership sessions, LSBUD is delighted to invite industry expert John Robinson of JRA to lead a discussion forum on surveying standards, focused on understanding the right option for every dig site.Everyone is invited with an opinion on this subject and to join us to take part in an active discussion. You don't need to be an expert but please come along to ask questions, share experiences and contribute.
Sessions will be recorded to share with the wider safe digging community.
Please take the opportunity to share your experiences in a professional and respectful session. All sessions are free of charge and open to all.Spaces are limited to 25 for each session so get in quick and click on the image below to book your space free of charge.

​New research released  by Energy Networks Association (ENA) reveals construction workers are risking their lives as nearly a third (31%) fail to check for underground electricity cables when digging on site.

• In the last five years, 354 people have suffered life changing injuries after striking a live underground electricity cable
• Construction workers identified as extreme risk with 4 out of 5 reported incidents involving a tradesperson
• Research reveals nearly a third (31%) of tradespeople do not always check for underground cables

Incidents of cable strikes have increased by 46% since the national lockdown ended
Since 2015, an average of 70 people a year are seriously injured as a result of contact with underground electricity cables. Nearly half of all cases (47%) were reported on public highways, construction sites and industrial buildings making tradespeople at extreme risk of serious injury in the workplace. 

When surveyed, 93% of construction workers and industry professionals believe they always dig safely, yet almost a third (31%) admitted to not always checking for underground electricity cables before beginning work. Despite the threat to life, the main reasons tradespeople fail to check for underground electricity cables is because they don’t believe it’s their responsibility (15%), or they don’t think they’ll dig deep enough to hit anything (24%).Underground services can be found and disturbed during street works, road works, excavations, drilling and piling, demolition and site remediation, site investigations and any other work that involves penetrating the ground. These cables can run at any depth below surface level and carry voltages ranging from 230 volts (domestic voltage) and upwards.

Worryingly, almost one in six (15%) say if they uncovered an underground electricity cable encased in concrete, they would attempt to break them out, which could put them at immediate risk of life-threatening injuries.This failure to check for underground services during these excavations has led to a 20-30% increase in incidents across the UK. These strikes to cables and pipes can lead to a significant risk to those working on the affected sites.
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To help prevent the number of fatalities and injuries amongst tradespeople, ENA has launched a new emotive safety film, urging those working in construction to ‘Think Before You Dig’. The thought-provoking film showcases the dangers of working near underground electricity cables, following the story of a construction worker and the devastating emotional and physical impact an accident can have.

National Damage Prevention Day 2020 is coming.

Do you remember the days of meeting up in person and discussing the latest developments, trends, and advancements in working safely around utility assets? Sadly so do we ☹

Well have no fear this year on the 5th November LSBUD bring you the event online with a great line up of industry speakers and topics, with the chance for you to discuss and interact with others attending the event. So this year go online, grab yourself a tea or coffee, warm up some sausage rolls in the oven and then sit back in the comfort of your own home/office/garage/shed to join in for the day.

You can find out more details of speaker line up, agenda and how to get involved by getting a ticket here. Tickets are only £83.68 and as a special thanks for continued support LSBUD have offered USAG members a £15 discount. Use the promo code USAGMembers on the booking page to get your discount. See you all on the day (virtually)

​We are pleased to be supporting the National Safe Digging Week promoted by LinesearchBeforeUdig (LSBUD) it is an initiative aimed at educating UK consumers and workers on safe digging practices.

We encourage all USAG members and followers to participate and perform as many of the following actions as is possible to promote the safe digging message, save lives and reduce damages to vital utility infrastructure during construction and excavation works.

• Make a few social media posts during the week across any of your social media channels in support of             #nationalsafediggingweek (to make life easy for you, imagery and wording can be provided)
• Encourage key contacts to take part in the week and build up
• Put link to LSBUD’s National Safe Digging Week webpage on your website
• Put same link in email signatures
• Encourage workforce to promote via social media
• Supply LSBUD with case studies/information of businesses that have been impacted after pipes or cables were ‘hit’
• Provide a quote for the national press release promoting the week – quote to also be used in other supporting collateral
• Distribute a national press release discussing support of the movement (press release to be provided) to own media     contacts
• During build-up and afterwards, include information about the initiative in customer communications such as newsletters or requests for meter readings, driving more people to search before they dig
• Perform own activity in support of the initiative

If you have any questions, wish to provide any case studies or to receive addititional supporting resources then please contact LSBUD at enquiries@lsbud.co.uk

In a recent media release Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks highlighted a recent trend of increased damages to electricity network cables. Over the past 2 months they have seen 445 damages which represents an increase of more than 20% over the same period last year. Some of this increase is seen in damages to cables on domestic properties with construction activities such as fencing and laying new driveways driving some of this increase. In line with best practice SSEN have issued the following advice:

• Obtain up-to-date underground cable record plans.
• Be aware that underground cables can be found at any depth, even just below the surface.
• Ensure a competent person uses a Cable Avoidance Tool (CAT)
• Mark the location of cables on the ground surface and dig trial holes to determine the exact position before using a mechanical excavator.
• If you find an underground cable embedded in concrete do not attempt to break it out. Contact us for specific advice.
• If you damage an underground cable, vacate the excavation immediately, call 105 and keep everyone clear.

This advice is applicable to all #uk electricity distribution network operators, read the full release here