National Damage Prevention Day – This year the national damage prevention day hosted by LSBUD is being held at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry on Thursday 20th June. USAG is proud to support this event and there will be a diverse agenda of speakers from the utilities, contractors, regulatory authorities, service and equipment suppliers all dedicated to reducing damage to utilities, keeping the essential services to homes and business running and most importantly of all keeping workers and the public safe.

LSBUD have kindly offered members of USAG the opportunity to purchase reduced price tickets at a cost of £76.50 + VAT by simply entering the promo code USAGMEMBER don’t worry if you’re not a member, use the code then simply send us an email to join on info@utilitystrikeavoidancegroup.org

The USAG team hope to see you on the day where we will be available to discuss damage prevention with you.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/national-damage-prevention-day-2019-hosted-by-lsbud-tickets-57711016203

The USAG group was recently featured in an article in the Water and Wastewater treatment magazine. This piece focuses on the risks and scale of the problem and the initiatives that have taken place such as linesearchbeforeUdig, training and advances in technology to better inform and improve the working practices of those excavating near utilities. 

The full story can be found on the Water and Wastewater Treatement website by clicking the following link:
​
https://wwtonline.co.uk/features/striking-it-out-how-can-the-industry-cut-down-utility-strikes

IOSH fully supports this proactive industry-led initiative and wholeheartedly agrees that risk assessment, planning, safe systems of work and competence are all essential for ensuring that digging and excavating are safe.

We need to make sure that all workers involved in excavations avoid accidentally striking the myriad of underground services, including electricity cables and gas pipes. Health and safety professionals are committed to helping employers and workers by raising awareness and promoting good working practices.

The latest HSE guidance ‘Avoiding danger from underground services’ highlights the devastating consequences of failing to manage such work properly, with workers being killed or seriously injured from striking live underground cables. These tragedies are preventable and IOSH believes we must act to ensure every worker goes home safely at the end of the working day.

The Institution would urge all organisations involved in commissioning or conducting any ground or excavation work to renew their efforts to raise health and safety standards and to sign up to this Charter. We all need to work together to make sure accidental contact with underground services is a tragedy of the past.

Jan Chmiel

Chief Executive

Institution of Occupational Safety and Health

The Utility Strike Group website has been updated and now includes a series of documents that broadens the scope of the toolkit and further enhances the usefulness of the documents and Charter membership.

We have also added full search function to the website, making it easy to find the document or page you are looking for.

Please take a look around the site and give us your feedback by emailing utilitystrikeavoidancegroup@gmail.com

Thank you

Kelly Group have signed up to the Utility Strike Avoidance Group Charter and have joined the growing group of organisations who are keen to reduce damage and disruption to our utility infrastructure and avoid injuring those who work in the industry.

Welcome on board.