UK digs deep for safety
24 August 2023
Record-breaking numbers of people in the UK are searching for pipes and cables before starting excavations, according to a recent report.
Digging up Britain 2023, the latest edition of the annual review by LSBUD (Line Search Before U Dig, a free service), says that more than 3.75 million search enquiries were placed in 2022 by the UK’s digging community, including construction workers and contractors.
It shows that 384,072 more searches were placed in 2022 than the previous year, a 12 per cent increase.
Some 74 per cent of all search enquiries were for ‘planned works’, 1 per cent up on last year, while the number of searches for ‘emergency works’ remained static at seven per cent or 252,598 searches.
Richard Broome, MD at LSBUD, said: “More than 3.75 million searches in one year is phenomenal, and really is testament to all of those within the safe digging industries for their continued best practice when it comes to excavation projects and their commitment to protecting themselves and others.
“Personally, I would like to see the number of emergency searches come down. Of course there will be some that are inevitable, but in the most part, a proactive, three-minute asset search ahead of the project could eliminate many of these.”
The report says that the majority of digging work was undertaken on behalf of the telecoms sector, followed by the water industry. These accounted for 74 per cent of all digging work in 2022.
Other frequent searches related to the ongoing rollout of broadband, perhaps reflecting the rise of working from home and hybrid work patterns, as well as the need for faster and more reliable connectivity.
The report can be downloaded here.
LSBUD provides the location of underground assets and infrastructure across the UK, checking sites against more than 120 asset owners’ utility networks in the electricity, gas, high pressure fuel, water and fibre optic networks.
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