Great care should always be taken when attempting to expose buried utilities. There are a number of dangers that can be hazardous to workers underground, with electrical cabling having the potential to kill. They can often look very similar to other piping, meaning workers can unknowingly make contact with the live cabling and sustain serious damage. Instead, when potholing utilities, you should always plan ahead to ensure your own and other peoples safety. Safety TipsThere are a variety of things that can happen when underground cabling gets damaged. People can receive an electric shock, which is deadly in most cases when they make contact with the cable. There can also be an arc discharge, caused by the electrical breakdown of gases which results in a prolonged electrical discharge. This discharge can result in severe burns even though people may be wearing protective clothing. In order to avoid this damage, you should first plan ahead before starting any work. You should make an effort to check for any equipment owned by third-party organizations, as this will give you clues as to who may own the cabling beneath the ground you are working on. It would then be a good idea to contact the owner to get detailed plans showing the location of cabling beneath the ground. This will uncover vital information that can help to avoid damaging existing infrastructures, which can incur a significant cost in monetary terms, as well as time delays. Even after obtaining detailed plans, it is also good practice to employ cable locating devices. Plans will give you an approximate location for cabling, but locators will help to pinpoint cables. Once this is done, you can then begin digging into the ground to expose your buried utilities. Excavating SafelyWhen excavating, you should be mindful of the cabling beneath you. It is vital that you use insulated hand tools when digging near electrical cabling, in order to mitigate the chance of electric shock. If you are using a vacuum excavator, you won’t have to worry about this risk. Any vacuum excavation contractors performing Hydrovac excavation should be mindful of their machinery’s location. There have been times where people have accidentally moved the boom into overhead powerlines, causing electric shocks. This highlights the importance of spatial awareness when operating this machinery. It is incredibly important that workers do not become complacent and always remain aware of the imminent danger surrounding them. It is recommended that when operating machinery in close proximity to overhead powerlines, you keep a minimum of 3 meters away from the live cable, with an optimal distance of 7 meters to ensure safety. One of the biggest benefits of utility potholing and vacuum excavation over hand digging is the reduced chance of damaging the line. Excavators have the ability to significantly reduce the pressure at which they dig, meaning you can uncover existing cabling without causing any damage. There is one safe method of digging where you dig down next to the location of the cabling and then horizontally move closer to expose the cable. This can be much safer than digging straight down, where you could potentially hit the cable with the dig wand. SummaryIn summary, there are many ways that you can ensure safety when attempting to expose buried utilities. It is always best to find out who owns the cabling in the area you plan to dig. They will have existing documentation detailing the approximate locations of cables in the area. You can then pinpoint the locations with locator devices and dig safely. Everyone should remain mindful of the dangers electricity poses to human life, checking that machinery is sufficiently far away from live power lines too. If you want to find out more about exposing buried utilities and excavation, you can visit Util-locate.com. from http://www.util-locate.com/professional-excavation-advice-in-exposing-buried-utilities/
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Potholing for utilities is a method that construction site workers can use to obtain a wealth of visual information regarding piping and other subsurface construction. Utility potholing has increasing importance in the construction industry, as a method that can help to make excavation safer and more cost effective to do. In the past, it was commonplace for contractors to use a backhoe. This piece of equipment is highly recognizable to the general population as a typical piece of machinery you would find on a construction site. However, it does not have the precision or maneuverability of more modern excavation machinery, meaning it has the potential to cause immense damage to existing subsurface infrastructure. Increased Safety using Vacuum ExcavationNowadays, you are much more likely to find a vacuum excavator being used. These highly portable pieces of machinery use either air or water in order to displace soil. Since the air and water are only vacuuming at low pressures, this means that other utilities in the ground will not be damaged, which makes vacuum excavation the preferred method compared to using a backhoe. Vacuum excavation also has a wealth of other benefits compared to using a backhoe. When excavating, a backhoe will displace a considerably larger amount of soil compared to a vacuum excavator. This soil will need to be stored somewhere whilst the construction work is being completed, creating obstacles in the form of dumping grounds. A vacuum excavator simply stores the displaced soil inside the machinery, meaning there is no need for a dumping ground. There is also increased tidying up required with a backhoe, as you have to replace all of the soil you have dug up. Increased cost efficiency using Vacuum ExcavationThe next important benefit of using vacuum excavation, compared to a backhoeing and manual labor, is the reduction in costs. Manual digging is an outdated method of excavating that requires a significant number of man-hours to accomplish the same thing as backhoeing and vacuum excavation. Individual workmen would spend time digging with shovels, for what could be days at a time using this method. In comparison, vacuum excavation would be much quicker while also causing much less disruption to the ground. Once work is complete, workmen would also have to refill the holes they had made, doubling the time taken. It would cost significantly more overall, alongside taking longer, to hire workmen versus using a vacuum excavator. The cost implications for backhoeing are slightly different from the previous. This piece of machinery can be a great tool when displacing ground is clear of subsurface infrastructure. It can accomplish what multiple workmen would do in hours, in mere minutes. When used in an area containing subsurface infrastructure, the damage that can be caused by the metal bucket on a backhoe hitting existing piping and cabling could be disastrous. This would most likely result in the project being put on hold, whilst repairs to the infrastructure are completed by those who caused the damage. As you can see, the risks of using a backhoe are very real, meaning it is a good idea to consider using a vacuum excavator instead when potholing utilities. SummaryIn summary, vacuum excavation is a new and improved method of potholing utilities. The use of low-pressure water and air by this system means that existing subsurface infrastructure is less likely to get damaged, versus other methods such as backhoeing and manual digging. The cost savings and improvement to site safety can also be immense through this mitigation of risk. You can find out more information regarding vacuum excavation and potholing utilities by visiting Util-locate.com. from http://www.util-locate.com/potholing-utilities-for-a-cost-efficient-and-safer-excavation/ When working in the utility industry, it is highly likely that you will be tasked with potholing. This method of gathering visual information is an economical, time-saving initiative that involves the digging of a small hole in the ground. Utility potholing is done to ensure that existing infrastructure underground will not interfere with new infrastructure that is being laid in the same area. This work can be done in a variety of different ways and offers some notable benefits too, of which we will discuss further. Types of Excavators used for PotholingThere are two commonly used types of excavator used when potholing for utilities. The first one is an ‘air vacuum excavator’, with the second being a ‘hydro vacuum excavator’. These two methods, as their names suggest, use either air or water to displace the ground below with them creating dry or wet spoil. Air will create dry and water will create wet spoil. This is then removed by vacuum suction and stored within a holding tank. These vacuum machines are usually mounted on a utility vehicle and are made in various sizes, dependant on the workload it is intended for. Why is Potholing important?When laying infrastructure underground, there is always the possibility of damaging other underground utilities. It is highly likely that the company that the contractors are working for will be fined for this damage. It can also result in significant project downtime, which will also incur costs for the company. It may seem like these may be unnecessary additional steps for contractors to worry about, but the implications in terms of cost can be huge. If you happen to hit a gas or utility line through horizontal directional drilling, the use of a trencher or a backhoe, this could result in fatal damage to infrastructure that surrounding businesses and residential areas rely on. The LawIt is still incredibly important to determine the exact location of existing piping and other lines, despite the improving accuracy of digital locators. In a safe zone, contractors are not permitted to dig with machinery in the area, with the area size ranging from 18 inches up to 3 feet. Instead, these safe areas must be dug in using hand tools such as shovels, or the vacuum evacuation or hydro excavators. SummaryOverall, contractors and their employers must remain acutely aware of their need to sufficiently inspect their working area when laying new infrastructure underground. Rather than simply digging into the ground, contractors must instead perform either vacuum evacuation or hydro evacuation to create a pothole. This will create a line of sight into the ground that can help workers to avoid drilling into existing infrastructure, something of which could be incredibly costly through being fined or having to delay project work. Safe areas, which are 18 inches to 3 feet in size, cannot be dug in using heavy machinery and instead need to be dug by hand or using vacuum excavators. from http://www.util-locate.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-potholing-for-utilities/ |
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October 2020
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