Underground mapping News & views

Road contracting firms strike around 700 existing underground pipes and cables in past year.

On Thursday 9th February 2012, BBC Newsline, in Northern Ireland, broadcast a story highlighting that almost 3 cable strikes have occurred, every working day over the previous 12 months on works taking place in roads and highways across Northern Ireland.

The article itself, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-16970715, illustrates that the road contracting industry claim the failure of utility companies to accurately map underground cables and pipes and feel that there must be a greater onus on them to provide accurate information as to where pipes and cables are positioned.

Gordon Best of the Quarry Products Association said "The recording of the location of services is not up to standards and will ultimately lead to serious injury or death,”.

In the UK, the National Utility Asset Group (NUAG) is working with a large number of telecoms, utility and energy companies to change the way in which asset records are drawn up, updated, maintained and crucially, circulated and co-ordinated to those who need them.

What mustn’t be overlooked however is that these Statutory Undertakers Records (Stats) should only be used as a guide, prior to any excavations or drilling taking place.

GEOTEC Surveys Ltd undertake a large proportion of our Underground Mapping Surveys, to locate and map as accurately as possible, the positions and depths of all known and unknown buried utilities and services located beneath the subsurface, for a given site, amongst the millions of miles of roads, footpaths and carriageways across Ireland and Great Britain. 

Whilst our survey technicians utilise all available Statutory Undertakers Records, as a guide, when carrying out on-site Underground Utility Mapping Surveys, it should be recognised within the Construction and Development Industry as a whole, that depending solely on records can be incredibly dangerous.

We understand the need for Desktop Mapping Studies, collating these records into a single map, to be a valuable tool at the design stage but would not recommend relying on these when digging.

The costs associated with procuring Underground Mapping are quantifiable, however the cost of NOT procuring Underground Mapping is not, as a price cannot be put on human life.

Comprehensive Underground Mapping Surveys, eliminate more risk and is safer for everybody, especially the man with the jackhammer.