What was the problem?
According to the HSE, during 2012-2013 there were three fatalities and 491 major injuries related to exposure to fire, explosion and electricity.
What did we do?
USAG is a collaborative group of over 180 utilities asset owners, industry groups and contractors, that seek to ensure the highest standards of safety and best practice when carrying out work on underground services. In particular, the Group aims to help those carrying out work to avoid disrupting supplies through accidental strikes on utilities in the ground by outlining a series of standards and toolkit resources.
We worked with USAG to create the toolkit, resources and new standards. We then ran a week long campaign to introduce the use of these resources into our existing systems and raise awareness of the dangers of working near underground services.
What was the outcome?
An increased understanding of the risk and potential outcomes of working near live services and the integration of new tools and resources into the Skanska management system to improve the control of working new underground services.