Page 93 - Best Practice for Construction Projects

Locating underground services / Machine assist hand dig

procedure

• Use hand digging/machine assist procedure when

locating underground services.
• A trained operative must scan the area using a
11. Identification and Protection
CAT/Genny scan. The operative then digs along the
trench in a ‘X’ pattern to a depth of approx. 75mm-
100mm.

• If no services are found, the excavator with the
banksman monitoring, can remove this 75mm-100mm
layer.

• The cycle of scan – hand dig – remove layer of
75mm-100mm must be repeated until warning tape,
sand or a service is located.

• The excavator must never clear away material to a
depth greater than the banksman has explored with
his shovel.

• All excavators must have a toothless flat edge bucket
when excavating.

• If a new service is required to be installed or laid in
the trench directly beside the existing service, then
that area must be cleared away by hand dig only.

• Permits, service drawings, records of inspection and
SSoW must be held at the work location.

2 Visual Standards | Feb. 2019