3 Problems Professional Potholing Services Prevent

3 Problems Professional Potholing Services Prevent

Construction workers are putting their lives in danger, according to a new study released today by the Energy Networks Association (ENA), as nearly a third or 31% fail to check for subterranean electricity wires when digging on site. These are the main reasons why utilizing ground penetrating radar is crucial for alleviating risks on the job site.

Since 2015, an average of 70 people have been critically injured each year as a result of coming into touch with subterranean power lines. Nearly half of all instances, which is 47%, occurred on public highways, construction sites, or industrial structures, putting tradesmen at significant risk of serious injury at work.

When asked if they always dig safely, 93% of construction workers and industry professionals said they do, but nearly a third or 31% said they don’t always check for subterranean electricity wires before starting work.

You’ll need professional potholing services to avoid the problems listed below.

Excavation Accidents

Excavating without causing potholes can lead to disaster in most circumstances. One of the most common issues with excavation projects is the unintended damage to utilities due to a lack of knowledge about their position and depth.

Utility lines can overlap and pass through any location underground because there are so many utility providers around. Not to add, fluctuations in temperature and soil density may cause subterranean utilities to shift location over time.

It’s like going into combat blind if you don’t do any potholing before you start digging. You could run into a utility line at any time. Without the use of the ground-penetrating radar, you may cause damage to public property as well as power outages, floods, water interruptions, and fires, depending on the type of utility you destroy and the severity of the damage.

Unexpected Expenses

Getting hurt while accidentally destroying power wires will result in a mountain of medical bills and costly repairs, all of which will add to your expenses.

Though performing potholing before an excavation project may appear to be an extra step, consider it a cost-effective method for preventing inadvertent damage and reducing work dangers. As a result, potholing will save money on future repairs and medical fees.

Legal Problems

When you destroy utility lines and harm people, you’ll not only pay additional costs, but you’ll also run afoul of the law. Everyone is forbidden from operating motorized equipment within 18 inches to 30 inches of marked utilities, according to state laws.

You’ll be excavating blindly if you don’t pothole and use ground-penetrating radar, you’ll run the chance of exceeding the tolerance zone. Potholing with vacuum excavation, on the other hand, helps you comply with this law.

Let Us Handle Your Ground Penetrating Radar Job

To avoid the concerns listed above, it’s a good idea to label any utilities in the region and use ground-penetrating radar before commencing any excavation job.

We provide potholing and utility locating services. To learn more about what we can offer, contact us at 866-638-1075 at Util-Locate today!

3 Benefits of Utility Mapping

3 Benefits of Utility Mapping

When open-cut surveys are insufficient, great precision and understanding are necessary to detect sensitive components of electricity or gas, so avoiding any physical harm. Underground utility locating mapping is the most popular service among government agencies and PWDs.

In the areas of geophysics, environmental engineering, and infrastructure development, the relevance of utility mapping cannot be emphasized.

Crews can easily drill into a gas line or damage concrete foundations of plants and silos if the location and depth of essential subsurface infrastructure are not adequately documented, plotted, or communicated to relevant parties.

Excavating into a utility line can be costly in terms of time, money, and energy if exact detection of what is beneath is not performed. Organizations can’t rely on old maps since they provide inaccurate and incomplete information about what they’re looking for. They seek a trustworthy business to provide technology-assisted subsurface utility mapping services.

The following are three of the most significant advantages of using utility locating mapping services.

Saves You Money

A utility mapping service improves work efficiency, which saves money in the long run.

The field crew may quickly receive reliable information from a remote location thanks to centralized database access.

From locating subterranean property in need of repairs and maintenance to producing digital work orders and inventory monitoring, utility mapping services can save you time, money, and effort.

It helps to eliminate the need for developing prints, manually preparing reports, entering details, reviewing daily schedules, plotting routes on paper maps, and much more. The use of this service reduces the amount of money spent on preventative maintenance, repairs, and obligatory replacements.

Manage Your Assets Easier

The professionals on the ground may readily access information relating to maintenance, replacement, repairs, and inspection with the help of utility locating mapping, which uses properly organized geographic data of subterranean utilities.

With a location-based tracking tool, a user may precisely trace and share position data, cutting down on troubleshooting time.

Public works agencies can easily manage all assets with real-time information, which not only reduces the cost of repair and replacement services but also improves decision-making and precision in work.

Better and Prompt Decision Making

One of the most significant benefits of this service is its ability to provide exact visualization via utility mapping. It may combine regular road maps and aerial views with property information such as zoning, permitting, parks, and developments.

By narrowing in on only the components that need to be considered, staff can show essentially more valuable data for official city meetings. As a result, there is a better comprehension of the situation, which allows for quicker decision-making.

Choose a Reliable Utility Mapping Service

It is critical that those working in certain initiatives comprehend the information in order to make better decisions. Our team collaborates closely with large infrastructure and real estate development projects. This reduces the amount of time and energy spent communicating information.

It also ensures that everyone on the team is using the same tool to analyze the same real-time data, which improves understanding and productivity.

To learn more about our utility locating mapping service, contact us at 866-638-1075 at Util-Locate today!

4 Problems Professional Potholing Services Prevent

4 Problems Professional Potholing Services Prevent

A huge portion of underground utility damages in the US are caused by failure to create potholes. It’s difficult to begin an excavation project without knowing where utility lines are. Potholing is a type of underground utility location that involves digging a small area or soft excavation to check where utilities are located.

Potholing relies on a vacuum excavator, which uses high-pressure air or water to break down soil, then vacuum the soil into a tank. To conduct thorough utility locating, a technician creates several test holes via potholing. As a result, you can determine:

  • Where utilities are located
  • How long the utility lines are
  • How deeply they are buried

This information is invaluable in any excavation procedure to prevent a slew of problems ranging from property damage and injury to financial and legal headaches.

Accidental Damage To Utilities

In most cases, excavating without creating potholes can lead to disasters. One of the biggest problems of excavation projects is accidental damage to utilities because builders can’t identify their location and depth.

With so many utility companies around, utility lines can overlap and run through any area underground. Not to mention, underground utilities change position over time due to changes in temperature and soil density.

Failure to conduct potholing before an excavation is similar to going into a battle blind. You can hit a utility line at any moment. Depending on the type of utility you destroy and the severity of the damage, you are not only causing damage to public property, but you may also cause power outages, floods, water interruption, and fires.

With potholing, you can identify the actual location of underground utilities. Knowing their location and depth tells you what area is safe to excavate, preventing any accidents during your project.

Working Hazard For Excavators

Another problem that comes with excavation projects is the risk of injury. Excavations are prone to accidents since they expose excavators and other workers to hazardous conditions, which may lead to injuries.

After accidentally hitting a pipe or an electric line, an excavator may get injured from the burst pipe and get electrocuted or burned from a damaged electric line. Potholing helps solve this problem as it tells you which areas to avoid in order to keep everyone safe for the duration of the project.

Additional Costs 

Getting injured while accidentally damaging utility lines will result in piling medical bills and expensive repairs, which incur additional costs. Though potholing prior to an excavation project may seem like an additional step, think of potholing as a cost-efficient approach that helps prevent accidental damage and minimize work hazards. Therefore, potholing will prevent unnecessary repair and hospital bills in the future.

Legal Trouble

Not only will you incur additional costs when you damage utility lines and injure people, but you’re also bound to get in trouble with the law.

According to state laws, everyone is prohibited from using mechanized equipment within 18 to 30 inches of marked utilities. Without potholing, you’ll be excavating blindly and run the risk of breaching the allotted tolerance zone. On the other hand, potholing using vacuum excavation helps you comply with this law.

Potholing Services

Before starting any excavation project, it’s recommended to mark all utilities in the area to avoid the problems mentioned above. Consult skilled professionals from Util-Locate, a South California-based digging company that offers utility locating services. Reach out to Util-Locate today for potholing services!

How Does Utility Location Work?

How Does Utility Location Work?

When conducting excavation projects or renovations, the first thing to do is locate utility lines. This is crucial in avoiding unwanted accidents such as burst pipes, power outages, gas leaks, and injuries. Not only will these accidents delay your project, but they are also costly.

Utility location determines the location of public utility lines like electricity, water, sewage, and telephone lines. With today’s technology, there are several ways of conducting utility locations to track the vast underground network of utility lines. Depending on the situation, one may be a better method than others.

Electromagnetic Locating

Electromagnetic locating is a non-invasive method of underground utility location that relies on an electromagnetic locator, also known as a pipe and cable locator. This helps locate, trace, and map out utility lines through electromagnetic frequency.

An electromagnetic locator consists of a transmitter, which sends out signals, and a receiver, which receives the frequencies reflected by objects that are metal or conductive materials. Thus, electromagnetic locating is best to find metals such as pipes and electrical ducts, making it one of the most accessible utility locating methods today.

Ground Penetrating Radar

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) locates utility lines using high-frequency radio signals. The GPR sends out radio signals onto the ground, and anything underground reflects the radio frequencies to the radar’s receiver, where they are stored in digital media.

Similar to electromagnetic locating, ground penetrating radar is a non-invasive utility locating method used to detect underground utilities. However, it has stronger underground detection capabilities than electromagnetic locating.

It can determine the size and depth of underground objects, making it the preferred choice of utility location when pipes are beyond 10 to 15 feet deep. Most commonly, this technology is used to locate buried pipes, tanks, utility holes, and cables that typically cannot be located using ordinary methods.

Vacuum Excavation

Salt, shale, or clay in soil interferes with non-invasive underground utility location methods like electromagnetic locating and GPR. In such cases, it’s better to do vacuum excavation.

Also known as hydro excavation, soft digging, or potholing, vacuum excavation is a type of mildly-invasive utility location procedure that uses high-pressure water or air to break soil apart and vacuum it into a tank in order to clear a path toward utility lines.

Utility Locating Services

Whether you’re doing a small project or major home renovation, it’s always best to err on the side of caution. Rather than trying your luck and accidentally damaging utility lines, hire professional utility locating services.

Utility location requires the use of special equipment that only professionals can properly operate. Not to mention, good utility locating services come with technical advice on how to distance yourself from pinpointed utility locations when excavating. 

Avoid unexpected and costly accidents by reaching out to Util-locate, the best underground digging company offering private utility locating services in Southern California!

What are the Safety Measures for Excavation?

What are the Safety Measures for Excavation?

Due to the existence of a particularly significant number of dangers, excavation is one of the most dangerous construction processes. To reduce the risk of excavation to construction workers, private utility locating services must follow a number of safety procedures.

It’s absolutely critical to take every precaution possible to ensure everyone’s safety and the project’s success.

Comprehensive utility locating, utility infrastructure investigations, damage prevention, and mitigation actions for issues detected during preliminary surveillance are all part of effective planning.

What is Excavation Work?

Excavation labor entails the removal of earth or rock from a location using tools, machines, or explosives to create an open face, hole, or cavity.

On any construction site, it is the initial action. It begins with the excavation of the structure’s foundation pit, which can be shallow or deep. It’s finished by filling the same pit with excavated earth or soil brought in from the outside.

The size and depth of the foundation, the types of soil strata, the water table, and the adjacent structures, among other factors, all influence construction excavation.

A person who engages in demolition, excavation, tunneling, or construction that causes damage to a pipeline facility that may threaten life or inflict significant bodily harm or property damage, according to the Federal Pipeline Inspection, Protection, and Safety Act.

Excavation work can take place in a variety of locations, including:

  • Business premises
  • Construction sites
  • Public areas.

Excavation work includes the following tasks:

  • Open excavations
  • Potholing 
  • Pit excavations
  • Retaining walls and trenches
  • Shafts and drives

The Hazards of Excavation and Managing Risks

It’s not difficult to understand why. Trenching and excavation operations offer particularly high risks to workers.

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 130 people died in trenching and excavation operations between 2011 and 2016. The private construction business was responsible for 80% of the fatalities, with 49% occurring between 2015 and 2016.

Striking services that are overhead or underground can kill or gravely hurt workers and those nearby. It is crucial to avoid undermining services as much as possible. All overhead and underground services should be identified and anticipated by good planning and supervision, which will assist in determining what activities will be permitted near the excavation activity.

To help you manage the risks, it is crucial to work with trusted private utility locating services. The planning phase of an excavation operation, which includes hazard detection and soil research, is where safe work practices begin.

An experienced private utility locating services should look for indicators of subsurface utilities such as fire hydrants, telephones, and transformers before proceeding.

Create a Utility Map

While you should always call 811 before digging, it’s also a good idea to create a utility map before beginning any utility service project. After all, 811 may be unaware of some private utility cables or unknown subterranean utility lines, or its information may be outdated.

You can use old utility maps as a reference while creating a utility map, but you should never use them to guide your excavation. Utility maps must be updated on a regular basis, and preparing one before the start of a new project is the best approach to avoid mishaps.

Falling Objects

Due to the usage of heavy machinery, falling items are a significant cause of excavation injuries.

Excavated material, referred to as a spoil pile, should be kept at least two feet away from the excavation’s edge.

Although it may be essential to move spoils to another area, this procedure often necessitates the installation of holding measures. While loading and unloading products, workers must also keep a safe distance from automobiles and other equipment.

Water accumulation prevention is an important safety measure in construction in general, but it’s especially vital around excavations.

Gases

Trenches can have hazardous atmospheres due to a lack of oxygen or a high concentration of another gas. Some trenches may have an environment that necessitates the use of additional protective gear such as masks or respirators.

Before the private utility locating staff begins an excavation, the atmosphere must be examined under the supervision of a qualified person, and at regular intervals thereafter.

The qualified person in charge of an excavation project must also take adequate measures to mitigate the risk posed by the excavation’s atmosphere, which may include removing personnel from the site until conditions improve.

Cave-Ins

Collapsed tunnels or cave-ins are one of the most prevalent accidents that private utility locators face when undertaking excavation work or dealing with subterranean lines.

Private utility locating contractors must examine the soil composition and design and install structures that will serve as support and shielding to avoid this. They can assess the likelihood of a cave-in by testing the soil ahead of time, while support beams can prevent tunnel collapse and shields can protect employees in the event of a cave-in.

Assessment

Excavations should only be left open for as long as is necessary to complete the job. After the site has been completed, it should be reviewed, primarily for the purpose of improving safety procedures.

The assessment’s findings might then be incorporated into future operations planning, resulting in a trend of continuous improvement.

Proper Equipment

Excavation projects are no laughing matter. Most projects cannot be completed without the essential tools, even with the most experienced utility personnel.

Investing in pricey equipment for a one-time activity can be unwise if you’re a homeowner digging for a one-time project.

Rather, it is safer and more cost-effective to hire an expert utility finder who already has such equipment and is familiar with using it to provide services. These excavators have been trained to use equipment like ground-penetrating radar to verify that all survey markers are accurately documented.

Hire Potholing Utilities You Can Trust

Whether you’re excavating to install new underground utilities or landscaping, you should always follow the safety precautions outlined above to protect yourself and those around you.

If you’re a property owner and have no experience with private utility locating or digging in a utility site, you may not know what to do if you accidentally hit a gas line or a water pipe. As a result, it’s best to delegate the task to utility providers or hire professionals who specialize in potholing utilities.

Our team consists of professionals with years of experience in potholing utilities services, and we treat all of our requests with the highest care. Contact us at Util-Locate today!

When to Call in a Private Utility Locator

When to Call in a Private Utility Locator

Any time you plan to dig on your own residential or commercial property, the first step should be to discover utility lines. The help of a private utility locating service should be used for both small and large dig operations, whether you’re excavating on private or public land.

These services are extremely useful for detecting and avoiding public underground utilities. It is more common than you might imagine coming upon underground utilities while excavating or doing other excavation work.

So, we’ll go over all you need to know about utility locating, when it should be done, and why it’s such an important initial step for every business owner in the section below.

Private Utility Locating: What You Need to Know?

Is it time to call your private utility locator? We understand that you don’t always want to call if you don’t have to. However, if you’re digging on a commercial site, you’ll almost certainly come across hidden private utilities.

Any utility that extends beyond the meter is typically referred to as a private utility. Warehouses, office parks, universities, hospitals, retail projects, and industrial sites are examples of situations where a private location is required.

Commercial sites, such as apartment complexes or other areas with restricted access, may also be included.

A trained utility locator will visit your site when a site visit has been booked to determine if a full locate is achievable based on site conditions. If the conditions are suitable, a ground-penetrating radar will be utilized to scan the ground surface and detect the location of an object.

This information is then marked or mapped to produce a clear picture of regions to avoid when excavating or doing other invasive groundwork.

Calling Private Utility Locating Services: Call Before You Dig

“Call before you dig” is a phrase you’ve probably heard. This campaign has been launched around the country to educate people about the significance of detecting subsurface utilities before excavating.

Whether you’re building a pool, putting up a fence, or landscaping, make sure the area is clear of utility lines.

From any state, you or the company you’ve engaged to execute the work should dial 811.

Before excavating on any business or residential property, including your own. Technicians will be dispatched to the site to use electromagnetic equipment to locate potholing utilities.

Then any that run from the street to the service meter are marked. This will assist households and professionals in avoiding damage to water, sewage, power, and natural gas lines.

Do You Need Private Utility Locating Services?

You’ll almost certainly need to do a second call before beginning your excavation endeavor. Private utility locating services may be required to locate and demarcate underground electrical wires, gas pipes, and other utilities on private, residential, commercial, and municipal property.

The wires that run beyond the service meter are known as private utilities. Electrical lines running from the meter to a house or building, for example, would be considered private.

Even on your own land, it’s critical to have these boundaries clearly and properly designated before beginning to dig for safety and liability concerns. You’ll need to hire a private underground utility locator to have these identified.

Utility maps are frequently missing, obsolete, erroneous, or incomplete, therefore private locator personnel do not rely on them.

Instead, they use a variety of specialized technologies to conduct a thorough analysis of the area. Electromagnetic equipment, ground penetrating radar (GPR), and electronic or radio frequency (RF) pipe and cable locating instruments are just a few examples.

Finally, a private locator may create comprehensive, high-quality utility maps of active and abandoned lines.

What Happens When Potholing Utilities are Hit?

Excavation work that is carried out without calling a private utility locating service is a hazardous operation.

When buried utilities are impacted, workers can easily be wounded or killed, making the location of subterranean utilities a safety issue first and foremost. Damage to the utility and the equipment in use is a possibility.

Repairs of underground utilities can be costly and time-consuming due to their nature. These frequently necessitate the excavation of the full length of pipe, cable, or conduit, which comes with significant fines and downtime.

Damage to nearby networks can result in difficulties like internet outages or flooding in the vicinity. When a buried utility is destroyed, the contractor is responsible for repairing it as soon as possible.  Not to mention these actions can be costly and time-consuming.

Public Utilities Vs. Private Utilities

Public utility services install public utilities to give service to a specific area. Regardless of whether they are on public or private land, the public utility provider owns and maintains these lines. Gas, power, and electricity are examples of public utilities.

Private utilities are those that extend beyond service meters or public utilities and, in many cases, onto privately owned land. Electrical feeders and gas mains running across parking lots or to important institutions such as hospitals or fire stations are examples of private utilities.

Lines running to and from substations, major industrial complexes, and refineries are examples. Because these utilities would be owned and maintained by the property owner, they would be outside the jurisdiction of utility locating firms.

What are the Different Private Utility Lines?

Most homes have unmarked private utility wires, which pose a serious risk to anyone excavating.

It’s critical that all lines are identified and marked. These are just a few of the subterranean utilities that could be present on your property.

  • Electricity for exterior lighting
  • Septic pipes
  • Sprinkler systems
  • Invisible fencing
  • Gas lines for heated pools
  • Gas lines to fire pits or grills
  • Power for a detached garage
  • Storm drains
  • Satellite dish lines

Call a Reliable Private Utility Locator

Using a private utility finder to avoid hitting concealed utilities is an excellent technique to avoid hitting them. Electric, gas, oil, steam, communications, water, sewer, and storm lines may all be found by private utility locators like us.

We are experts at identifying buried materials, removing the guesswork from your excavation. Don’t take the risk of hitting buried utilities, contact us at Util-Locate today!