Underground and hidden services Toolbox Talk
Cables, gas pipes and other services can be concealed in ground, walls, floors and ceilings. Plans and detectors reduce risk but neither proves the area is clear.
Key points
- Obtain and review current service plans before work.
- Survey the area with suitable locating equipment operated by a competent person.
- Mark services and confirm the route throughout the work zone.
- Use safe digging or opening methods and expose services carefully.
- Isolate services where reasonably practicable and verify isolation.
- Treat unidentified services as live or hazardous.
- Use a permit and emergency plan where the site system requires them.
Do
- Scan repeatedly as depth changes.
- Use insulated or non-powered hand tools near indicated services where appropriate.
- Stop on unexpected findings.
Don't
- Do not trust drawings alone.
- Do not assume an unused-looking cable is dead.
- Do not use mechanical excavation inside exclusion distances without approval.
Questions to ask the group
- Which plans and scan results apply?
- How are services marked?
- What is the strike procedure?
References: HSE HSG47 Avoiding danger from underground services; Electricity at Work Regulations 1989; Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015