Empirical investigation into underground utility strikes for supporting incident prevention: cases in Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Underground utilities pose a hazard during excavation works. One-call services are available to prevent strikes by providing relevant drawings to contractors, such as Dial Before You Dig in Australia. Even with this service and many other technologies, incidents keep occurring at an alarming rate. The research team developed a plan to observe relevant incidents occurring at multiple sites in Melbourne. Thirty cases of service strikes were detected over a 2-year period and the data showed the existence of common causes related to proactiveness in operational management. This includes errors in the use of current tools such as geographic information systems, which need to correctly show the most up-to-date buried infrastructure to be effective. This research also highlighted the need for procedures to be followed that involved having assets marked out on site and proved through non-destructive digging prior to excavation. Two practical scenarios were used to verify the research findings.