Before you dig
Risk assessment
15 things filed against this subject, in every format the Bureau holds.
Overlaid and Compiled Plans: Why They Invite Assumptions
What a compiled or overlaid drawing hides that the individual stats plans show. Pete Ashcroft on why one tidy drawing of everything is more dangerous than several awkward ones.
Watch 8:52 →What Happens If You Hit a Cable
The consequences of striking a cable, overhead and underground, the path of least resistance through a person, and the injuries that follow. The reason the locator comes out at all.
Watch 40:11 →What Happens in a Cable Strike: LV, HV and the Person Holding the Tool
What actually happens when a cable is struck, the difference between low and high voltage, where the earth and phases come into it, and what HSG47 requires of you before the ground is opened.
Watch 52:24 →Four Behaviours That Can Cause Cable Strikes on Site
Most strikes trace back to four things people do, or skip, during the pre-excavation survey. Knowing what causes them is the first step to preventing one.
Read →Utility Strike Prevention: A Guide for Site Managers
Pre-dig procedure, training, supervision and what to do in the hour after a strike, written for the person running the site rather than the person holding the CAT.
Read →Test Before Touch: A Recommendation to Adopt Voltsticks
Why anyone working on electrically connected street furniture should carry a voltstick: the risk, the fix, and how to roll Test Before Touch out across a workforce.
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