Utility Strikes – Causes, Costs & Developments

Professor Nicole Metje, University of BirminghamIOSH Webinar: Managing Underground Assets Safely,

14th January 2021

Utility Strikes – Asset Type

7%

9%

12%

35%

38%

27%

3%

19%

32%

17%

34%

16%

38%

12%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

Electric

Cable TV

Water

Telecoms

Gas

Percentage utility strikes by utility affected

USAG UK USA (CGA)

USAG 2019

UoB 2015 study

Utility Strikes – Tools Used

USAG 2019UoB 2015 study

Cause/reason analysisOut of 255 incidents where pre-excavation CAT scans were carried out:… 52% detected the utility before the strike… 48% failed to detect the utility

Out of 187 incidents that indicated reviewing utility plans/drawings before excavation:… 48% were on plans… 52% were not shown on the plans

Out of 89 incidents that were on plans:… 16% indicated that the location shown was accurate… 84% stated that the location of the utility struck was inaccurately plotted

Utility Streetworks and Associated CostsIssue Impact

~£7billionperannum:costofutilitystreetworks totheUKeconomy

78%ofwhichisindirectcostsincludingsocialandenvironmentalimpacts

Roadoccupationduetoutilitystreetworkscausingtrafficdelays

Accountedforequivalentof~6.16milliondays ofworkintheUKin2014-2015

Anestimated1.37millionstreetworksundertakenbyutilitycompaniesalone

Thisequatesto2.4millionroadopeningsintheUKin2014-2015

• In2014-2015,utilitystreetworksinEnglandandWaleshaveincurredcostsofmorethan£1.5bn.

• TheprojectedcumulativetotalcostofutilitystreetworksintheUKfrom2013to2030is£319bn.

• Wedigsome4millionholesinUK’sroadseachyeartryingtolocateservices…

Unnecessary costs, causes disruption, safety issues…

This is not all about Health & Safety….there is a real economic impact

UtilityStrikeCostRatio=1:29

DirectRepairCost IndirectCost SocialCost

Costs of Utility Strikes – 16 Case Studies

National Standards (International Standards)

Please see PAS128 for the vertical and horizontal accuracies for different

quality levels

Assessment of Impact/Success of PAS128

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Drainage Electricity Telecoms Unknownlinearanomaly Water

geom

etriclength[m

]

utilitytype

A B C E

• TheCustomeriskey– UtilityProvidersarekeenfortheircustomers(andothers)nottobeimpacted/inconvenienced… respectiveRegulators(OFGEM&OFWAT)andalsoclientstoassessourperformance.

• PermitstoWork– tighterregulationonpossessionofroads.

• DrivebyTier1contractorstoimprovetheirsafetyrecords,productivity&removewastage

• Improvedstakeholdercollaboration…e.g.USAGestablishedin2012;

• Raisedawarenessoftheissues/problems…MTU/ATU…USAGutilitystrikereports...MockUtilityStrikeTrialsheldincollaborationwithTfL,ICE,MTU

Industry Best Practice – some comments from the UK

Ongoing Activities• National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) – initiative by the

Geospatial Commission on behalf of the Government

• Company Accreditation / Individual competency assessment for utility surveyors – Discussions ongoing with Lloyd’s Register

• Updates of Standards & Guidelines

• Creation of a Client guide to sit alongside PAS128• Sensor development (Multi-Sensor arrays)• Connected and Autonomous Plant – Highways England• National Buried Infrastructure Facility

at UoB• Training courses for utility mapping

https://www.cstaglobal.com

Thank youUseful References:Makana, L., Metje, N., Jefferson, I., Rogers, C.D.F. (2020). Cost Estimation of Utility Strikes: Towards Proactive Management of Street Works. Infrastructure Asset Management. Vol. 7, Issues 2, pp. 64-76. https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/full/10.1680/jinam.17.00033

Metje, N., Ahmed, B., Crossland, S.M. (2015). Causes, Impacts and Costs of Strikes on Buried Utility Assets. ICE Municipal Engineer, Vol. 168, Issue 3, pp. 165-174. https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/full/10.1680/jmuen.14.00035

Metje, N., Hojjati, A., Beck, A., Rogers, C.D.F. (2020). Improved Underground Utilities Asset Management–Assessing the Impact of PAS128 in Practice. Municipal Engineer. Vol. 173, Issue 4, pp. 218-236. https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/full/10.1680/jmuen.18.00055

USAG Report: https://www.utilitystrikeavoidancegroup.org

Common Ground Alliance (USA) DIRT Report: https://commongroundalliance.com/Publications-Media/DIRT-Report