How to best protect buried assets

Author:Andrew Allen

在保护埋藏的服务方面，世界各地的态度正在发生变化。当我们看人们正在使用的术语时，这是最明显的。最明显的是，谈论地下已经发生了转变公用事业到talking about undergroundassets。当公司和区域政府将姓名更改为与货币相关的条款时，态度会改变。金钱还推动了认识和立法。人们坐起来听听assets受到威胁。

在全球范围内，态度的转变你知道它在那里，如果你打了到我们必须维护埋葬公用事业的准确可靠地图have developed at a slow rate. Leading countries, such as the United Kingdom, Germany and the USA, have a highly-regulated and formulaic approach to breaking ground. Germany, as an example, introduced a government rebate for every locator bought. On the other side, however, there are regions and countries where not even the utility companies know where assets lie.

How do we protect assets from damage? The answer to that lies in:

• 足够的政府支持
• 一种全球方法from the contractor
• 建立意识
• 更好的设备
• Increasing user skill.

让我们详细了解这些。

Government support

When trying to change minds or introduce a new concept to a new area, we tend to need a nudge in the right direction, either with legislation, regulation or guidance from our governments. As mentioned earlier, countries where this has been very successful are Germany, the United Kingdom and the USA. These three countries have some form of government support for protecting buried assets, either through encouraging the purchase of the necessary equipment, formal guidance on what should be done before breaking ground, or dedicated services to help with identifying potential utilities near where you dig. Ideally, all three should be present if we really want to keep people and assets safe.

一种全球方法

发展中国家的一些大型公司试图采取与英国和欧洲相同的打破地面方法，为当地承包商制定了标准。通过这样做：

• Introduce safe working practices
• Train local contractors in设备使用
• 实施安全工作的方法
• 建立对发掘工作涉及的危险的认识

Leading by example drives governments to develop and improve legislation for their countries.

建立意识

Following on from legislation, regulation and guidance, we need to build awareness not only of what lies underground but also of the consequences of not knowing what is beneath your excavator’s bucket or shovel. A公用事业罢工在设备受损，公用事业损坏和服务中断方面，不仅是昂贵的，而且还可能损害生命并有可能终止它们。

这意味着在挖掘之前进行扫描需要在有埋藏电缆的任何地方成为标准做法。这种态度的改变将由公用事业所有者和健康与安全机构敦促政府驱动。

更好的设备

The process of locating cables for avoidance has changed little over the past decades. Many manufacturers have stuck with fiddly dials and buttons which require user training to even switch the product on. This can lead to inexperienced or untrained users being unable to use the equipment when the time comes to perform their avoidance scan.

自2000年代初引入自动数字定位器以来，Leica Geosystems一直是公用事业检测中最大的创新者之一，简化了工作流程和增加能力以在更短的时间内分析资产绩效。

The launch of the newDD Smart公用事业定位器解决方案允许用户映射埋藏的实用程序，将数据远程传输到跨多个站点的多个用户管理站点活动的托管服务。Leica DD智能实用程序系列使用行业领先的数字信号处理来比其他任何系统更深入，更快，更准确地识别地下资产。

Increasing user skill

This is the No.1 key area for asset protection. The best laws, equipment and risk awareness will not help someone who does not know how to use the equipment. Yet, it is not simply user skill in equipment use – it is ensuring that operators know how to visually scan an area for clues about what might be underground and where. It is giving them the understanding that one scan at ground level is not enough; they need to keep scanning throughout the dig. It is ensuring they know that only some buried cables can be found using the locator on its own, and if you want to be thorough, you need to use a signal transmitter, too. It is all these things and more. Leica Geosystems offers several courses ranging from a half-day user training to a five-day utility surveyor course.

通过自动精确点，在DD智能实用程序定位器中，板载视频教程，使用警报以及音频和视觉显示，Leica GeoSystems简化了实用性位置。尽管如此，在没有正式培训设备和电缆定位的情况下，资产和人员仍处于危险之中。

Knowing how to use the equipment properly and applying knowledge to an excavating environment is most important for finding and identifying assets correctly, and therefore, staying safe during excavation.

Each of the above areas have their benefits on their own, but only when they all work together are buried assets truly protected.