High pressure pipelines run all over the UK, and are often found in rural areas. Many aren’t buried very deep. So, as a fencing contractor or agricultural worker, you have to take extra care before any digging work.
Whether you’re using a fencing spade, chisel and point crowbar, post driver, post knocker, tractor or digger, keep an eye out for marker posts. And ALWAYS do a free underground search before you start.
Don’t rely on the landowner – check yourself!
If pipes are present, speak to the pipeline operator. These pipeline are often not buried as deep as you think. Many are less than 900mm below ground. That’s the length of a cricket bat! You could easily disturb them, causing a major accident and/or pollution.
Always search before you dig. It is free, and takes just two minutes. Less time that it takes for you to drink your cuppa.
Recently in The Midlands, a fencing contractor installed a 200mm wooden fence post directly onto a 200mm steel fuel pipeline, with an operating pressure of 46 bar. The landowner was aware of the pipeline’s presence but failed to inform the contractor, meaning no prior contact was made with the pipeline operator prior to the digging works commencing.
The post was installed using a hydraulic post knocker and as a result of this work, the pipeline and wrapping were damaged. Once alerted, the pipeline operator imposed a temporary pressure restriction on the pipeline whilst the fence post was extracted, and the pipeline exposed to check the extent of the damage.
Once the damage was assessed and repairs to the pipeline were undertaken, normal pumping operations were resumed. The pipeline operator is currently pursuing the cost of the repairs directly with the landowner, but this could easily have had repercussions on the contractor too.
This incident could have been more serious had the pipeline been breached, causing serious injury to the fencing contractor and massive irreversible pollution to the environment.
