New Dial Before You Dig guidelines to keep underground assets intact

“Careless excavation threatens lives and livelihoods and can result in millions of dollars worth of damage to services, such as gas and water pipes, electricity and communication cables,” Batchelor said.
“New Dial Before You Dig service guidelines, endorsed by Energy Safe Victoria and WorkSafe Victoria, will assist excavators to make informed decisions before they begin to dig and reduce the risk of injury, damage or disruption.”
Batchelor said the guidelines outlined:
•    The responsibilities of people and companies planning to dig, including excavators, planners and engineers;
•    The responsibilities of asset owners, including water, gas and electricity companies; and
•    Information about Dial Before You Dig in Victoria and the service it provides.
“The guidelines were developed following significant stakeholder consultation,” Batchelor said.
Energy Safe Victoria’s director of energy safety Ken Gardner said the location of pipes and cables underground was not easy to predict.
“They are often laid at varying depths on both public and private property. Unsuspecting diggers can very quickly find themselves cutting essential services to their own home or in some cases to entire neighbourhoods, towns or cities.”
WorkSafe Victoria executive director John Merritt said the guidelines would help reduce the risk of damaging incidents that could cause injury or worse, fatalities.
Dial Before You Dig is a free referral service available to professional contractors, underground asset owners and individuals undertaking excavation. It provides information that can assist them excavate securely and safely.

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Jail, fines for cutting NSW cables, pipes
Meanwhile in New South Wales, under new laws, operators of earthmoving machinery are facing jail terns of up to five years if they interrupt gas or electricity supplies.
Also there will be fines of up to $22,000 for individuals and $440,000 for corporations which fail to take adequate measures to avoid cutting cables or pipes.
The NSW Parliament’s upper house passed the legislation in early June, following several power failures in Sydney’s CBD in March and April, caused by earthmover incursions.
Of course Dial Before You Dig operates in NSW as well as Victoria and other states. But in debating the new legislation as it went through the NSW parliament, some doubt was expressed that information from DBYD could supply sufficiently detailed information for earthmovers to be absolutely sure they could miss all cables and pipes.
CCF stalwart and Victorian DBYD executive from its earliest days, made the point at the Victorian guidelines launch, that energy and service providers viewed plans in minute detail on huge computer screens. That gave them a big advantage over the ordinary contractor who probably looked at them on a much smaller screen with greatly inferior resolution.
At the launch Earthmover asked Peter Batchelor if the Victorian government was considering punitive legislation similar to that which had been enacted in NSW.
He said definitely not, given the scope of the new guidelines, and urged NSW to adopt similar guidelines to reduce embarrassing disruptions to power supplies.   
More information: http://www.dialbeforeyoudig.com.au