什么潜伏在下面

埋在现代城市下的管道和公用事业的迷宫对项目构成了重大风险。在2018年，工人报告more than 330,000 underground utilities strikes in the United States and more than 11,000 in Canada. That was an increase of about 13.5% since 2015, numbers show.

平均而言，北美每10秒某个地方有一个公用事业罢工，但这是一个不必存在的问题，并且有一个明确的解决方案。在消除威胁时，组织可以节省金钱 - 更不用说头痛甚至可能丧失人类生命了。来自民事季刊（TCQ），a new publication launched in July 2020 from Dodge Data & Analytics,revealedcontractors in heavy construction are facing supply chain issues and other challenges in keeping their jobsites going amid COVID-19.

But digging deeper, this brand-new data also revealed that 63% of the contractors contacted for the study are currently using or considering using utility detection tools. A staggering two-thirds of contractors shared a new prioritization on safety investments overall, to include utility detection.

According对于一项有些过时的普渡大学研究，该研究仍然是该行业中最常见的研究，公司可以为实用程序检测所花费的每一美元节省4.62美元。其他估计表明，每花费每一美元的成本节省可能更大，可能达到18美元。Regardless, the savings can total billions of dollars every year. Shutting down a project because of a utility strike can easily cost companies $2,000 or more per hour, a significant impact on the bottom line of any company or project.

Options to detect

许多公用事业罢工是由发掘错误造成的。其他人之所以成为其他原因是因为机组人员没有报告他们在挖掘或由于报告地下公用事业生存的错误而出现的错误。有两种主要技术可以帮助机组人员检测地下公用事业：电磁定位器和地面穿透雷达。
These technologies work differently, so one is not necessarily superior. Electromagnetic locators effectively locate metal or metallicized utilities, while ground-penetrating radar can help find other buried items, such as plastic pipes. Remaining vigilant while excavating a jobsite remains of paramount importance as neither tool is guaranteed to find everything, particularly items found buried deeper than 15 feet. But, working in tandem, these tools capture the overwhelming majority of buried utilities.

A Growing Field

超级地下实用工程领域随着成熟的成熟而继续发展。随着项目越来越复杂，预算收紧，使错误变得更加昂贵，因此它有望实现重大的增长。
There are three emerging sections within the utility detection arena: Utility companies, specialized detection companies, and construction companies that take it on themselves. Now there are new — and easier-to-use tools — that are simplifying utility detection across the industry.
如今，有40％的承包商使用实用程序检测工具，而另外23％的承包商使用或考虑了该技术。

Be wary of free

There are free options for detecting underground utilities. While these are tempting, it’s important to remember the old adage, “you get what you pay for.”

据估计，北美埋藏的公用事业线中有65％被认为是私人的，因此许多埋藏的公用事业没有得到充分验证。考虑到公用事业所有者不一定需要参加非营利计划，例如共同基础联盟的811程序— that help companies locate underground utilities before they dig, and there is a potential recipe for disaster.

While asset owners theoretically know where their underground utilities are buried, free services often inaccurately mark the locations. It’s one thing for a homeowner to receive wrong markings, it’s another for bad markings on a significant commercial project where millions of dollars — and even dozens of lives — are at stake.

It's not just marking utilities; it's about saving time

Mapping utilities used to be a time-consuming affair, as crews would have to download data from a detecting device, upload it to another system and then cross-reference the data to make sure where they planned to dig is safe.

It’s no problem for teams with days to spare, but today, it’s about getting the information in real-time to keep crews active and working safely and efficiently.

现代的解决方案已经改变了方法,it easier for companies of all sizes to understand what lies beneath their project and keep everyone on their team in the loop. They can also be deployed by small teams or single team members, making these solutions well-suited for the new social distancing requirements amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the easy-to-use and advanced implementation of these solutions, they can also be deployed without hiring additional team members or undergoing extensive training.

But, detecting utilities is just the first step in the process.工具采用智能算法在几分钟内创建数字实用图像，在用户仍在现场时显示检测结果，从而使项目经理可以做出实时决策。用户可以将数据导出以与后处理软件和机器一起使用，或者可以覆盖其他数据，以获得更强大的环境图片。

There is no longer an excuse

技术是当今组织面临的问题的更好方法的强大推动力。从项目站点的高级，多维图纸到完成的新项目甚至数年的现实3D渲染，技术已经彻底改变了建筑行业，公用事业检测也不例外。

There is no reason to strike an underground utility because the crew did not take the time to try and locate it. Today’s available solutions streamline processes and make the jobsite safer and allow project managers and their teams to avoid inadvertent strikes of buried pipelines and utilities.简单地使用此技术可以节省数千美元的费用，维修和浪费的时间。为什么再等待了？

Simon Pedley is the Detection Sales Manager in North America for Leica Geosystems.

As published inModern Contractor Solutions。