Designers have a duty to reduce or 'design out' the risks arising from damage to underground services. Having reduced the risk to a level as low as reasonably practicable by design, information should be provided to those doing the work about the risks that remain. In most cases, the best way of informing contractors and individuals doing the work is by providing this on working drawings.
You will need to know if there are underground services present so that you can amend the design to avoid them where possible.
For building work, re-siting the services away from the work is often a reasonably practicable means of avoiding the risk. Ask the service owner/operator to do this and include adequate notice. Other options to re-siting the services may include:
- Repositioning or redesigning structures or parts of structures to ensure that services are avoided during the work.
- Arranging for the supply to be disconnected during the work.
- Choosing methods to avoid the services; for example, by using ground beams to bridge or span the services.