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NETWORK / 20 / FEBRUARY 2019 HEALTH & SAFET Y Making excavation safer The unintentional striking of an electrical cable or gas pipe- line has a significant impact on asset owners, damaging their infrastructure, disrupting their customers and undermining their brand reputation. Richard Broome, managing director at LSBUD (Linesearch BeforeUdig), draws on data from the company's recent 'Digging Up Britain' report to consider how common a problem asset strikes are and looks at what more can be done to stop them. I t has been widely esti- mated that more than four million excavations take place across Great Britain each year. In 2017, only 2.25 million of these involved a thorough search for pipes and cables before the work commenced. This means that 44 per cent did so with - out detailed examination for existing underground assets. This puts the critical utility infrastructure at constant risk of being accidentally damaged. With more than 1.5 million km of underground infrastruc - ture in situ and the majority of digging work being carried out by contractors, it is easy to see why asset owners, who have little control over who is digging or where, are at a heightened risk of cable and pipe strikes. In essence, every time a spade or digger bucket hits the ground, there is a significant chance of an asset being hit. Strike frequency So, just how big an issue are pipe and cable strikes? Our report gauged the scale of the problem by reviewing the level of electrical cable and gas pipe- line strikes that are reported to the Health and Safety Execu- tive (HSE) each year. Although awareness around the subject of asset strikes is improving, the sheer scale of construction work taking place means there are

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