Buried Services - An Inconvenient Truth

A former US Politician several years ago coined the phrase “An Inconvenient Truth”

Now the world has woken up to the issue of climate change, and began to address the untold damage we humans have caused thus far in the evolution of mankind.

Has the time come for all of us in Utilities & Construction to face our very own Inconvenient Truth.

The people on the front line digging the holes & hitting the services are being set up to fail, by others.

If I left any work equipment lying in the footpath and somebody was to trip over it and have an accident no doubt and quite rightly I would be responsible.....Yet Unexploded bombs, also known as Electricity Cables are buried in the footpath and highway with poor records kept by the owners and not installed to recommended depths. They are sometimes looped and encased in concrete. The utility owners stand back disclaiming any responsibility and say “be careful you don’t kill yourself!”  

There are numerous elephants still in the room that are well known about yet left well alone.

One such elephant is the training & competence of those searching, often in vain, for those services that modern day technologies allows us to find. Such technologies are either not understood by the individuals in question, or for other reasons refused to be embraced.

I find myself becoming increasingly annoyed with the term “Cable Avoidance” or “Utility Avoidance”

Whenever I hear these terms I have visions of operatives performing out dated power & radio (passive) zig zag scans across a site and I despair! Yet this is the way many people are still being taught to use the equipment.

Our industry is awash with poor training & poor terminologies but when you can attend a one day “Trainer The Trainer” course with the manufacturer, without any prior experience using the kit what do we expect?

Many of the companies I have worked with over the years want to increase usage of the Genny or signal transmitter and the training we offer aims to do just that, but should we not start thinking about the terms we use and how we talk about utility detection?

How can we avoid utilities until we have located them?

I sat through a presentation the other week about reducing utility damage and numerous times throughout I saw these phrases

“CAT SCANNING “ “CAT Training” “CAT the Area” “Competent CAT user” 

Not once did I see the word “Genny”

I believe we have to try and change the mindset of operatives using this kit and those supervising and part of this needs to be changing the terms we use and by doing so emphasising that active location through the use of a signal transmitter is the FIRST and Primary method to be used on site.

Training shouldn’t just be about using the kit correctly it should teach how to apply the techniques to a site and conduct a proper utility location survey, connecting and clamping onto utilities and thinking outside the excavation area applying signals to utilities that have the potential to be in there, and not just scanning the hole!  Using blind induction sweeps and nulling out, only then should we be performing a passive sweep at the end of a survey. The training also needs to be in the real world and not a single power cable across a depot car park.

I did some work with Scottish Water a few years ago and following the training, they immediately started referring to the kit as “Genny and CAT” and “Genny and CAT Training” and I applaud them for this. This emphasises how important the transmitter is and the fact it should come first in conducting a proper site survey.

So next time you ask “has that area been CAT Scanned?” why not change it to “Has it been Genny & CAT scanned?”

Instead of asking about “Cable Avoidance Training”. Ask about “Utility Location Training”

When you talk about "service avoidance" let us talk first about "service location & detection"

Wales & West Utilities, led by Mark Benton embraced this concept in 2015, training along with support from the H&S team and management switched the focus from avoidance to location. Operatives began and continue to employ the Genny first and foremost, attitudes and behaviours towards the kit changed. Confidence and skills in conducting a proper survey grew and this resulted in a 50% reduction in utility strikes.

These might be small steps, but gradually, let us try and change attitudes towards utility detection and put the focus where it needs to be on conducting a proper active survey. Small steps is often the way as large ones can prove difficult for some.

A leap of faith every now & again is often called for & to be applauded.

Note to my many connections who are utility surveyors, this article is referring to the many people out there conducting the excavations not the utility surveying industry :)