In the UK the total number of incidents of utility strikes every year is unknown. Statistics on underground utility strikes such as those collected by the Common Ground Alliance in North America are not available. Since 2013 the Utility Strike Avoidance Group (USAG) has begun collecting statistics on underground utility damage, but still only collects data on a small proportion of utility strikes. Without baseline underground utility damage statistics, it is not possible to determine whether damage in increasing or decreasing. Given the projected £ 600 billion investment in infrastructure over the next five years with a focus on building more faster, reducing the risk of damage to underground utilities on construction projects will be essential to prevent delays and budget overruns. The latest statistics from North America and the Netherlands reveal little progress in reducing underground utility damage over the past five years or so in spite of one call and other measures that have been implemented.
LinesearchbeforeUdig's (LSBUD) Digging Up Britain 2020 Report has just been released. According to LSBUD's data, the leading causes of utility strikes was inaccurate and missing plans/facility maps (40%) and inadequate assessment of the planned construction project (35%). This mirrors similar conclusions for North America based on a survey reported in a CGA White Paper. The CGA survey found white-lining (marking the ground to delineate the location of proposed excavations) and better facility maps received nearly unanimous agreement as top strategies for improving efficiency and quality of locates. Respondents reported that out of date, incomplete and inaccurate facility maps are an important contributing factor in making utility locates difficult and slow.
England does not have legislation mandating a one-call centre as every state and province in North America does. This puts the onus on excavators to track down and contact utilities and others who may have infrastructure in the area of the planned excavation. To fill the gap a private company Linesearch BeforeUdig (LSBUD) offers something similar to a North American one-call centre. In 2019 850,000 kilometres of Great Britiain's 1.5 million kilometres of underground assets were registered by 95 members with LSBUD, mostly gas (80%) and electricity(70%). LSBUD offers a free to use service which anyone planning excavation can use to check for underground utility assets that LSBUD's 95 members (network owners) have in the area of the planned excavation.The excavator provides details of the planned excavation to an online system. The system responds with a list of LSBUD members that have assets near where the excavation is planned. Subsequently each member sends plans of their infrastructure assets in the area of the planned excavation.
Of 3 million search requests to LSBUD in 2019 most (2.15 million searches) came from excavators working on utility and telecom construction projects. Highway projects including street and road rehabilitation were second with 421,452 searches. 32% of the queries originated from telecom companies, reflecting the rapid buildout of fibre networks. Water companies were second with 21% of the information requests. The largest year over year increase in requests was from private individuals, perhaps reflecting the impact of the pandemic on homeowners spending more time in their gardens.
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