Energy Safety Guidelines: Who Qualifies and What You Get
Learn the essential safety protocols for digging and excavation to prevent electrical accidents while landscaping.
These guidelines provide essential safety protocols designed to protect people performing digging or excavation work near underground electrical cables.
Who it's for
These guidelines are specifically designed for landscapers working in New Zealand. If your work involves any form of excavation, digging, or ground disturbance where you might encounter underground cables, these safety protocols apply to you. They are intended to help professionals navigate the hazards of digging in residential or commercial areas where electrical infrastructure is buried beneath the surface.
What you get
By following these guidelines, you gain access to established safety protocols for digging and excavation. These protocols are designed to mitigate the risks associated with heavy machinery and manual digging near electrical lines. They provide the necessary framework to ensure that your excavation tasks are performed in a way that maintains safety for both the operator and the surrounding environment.
What it costs you
There is no direct monetary fee to access these safety protocols. However, following them requires a commitment of your time. You must dedicate time to perform due diligence before any digging begins, which includes the necessary steps to check maps through the BeforeUdig service. Taking this time to verify the location of underground lines is a critical part of the process.
The catch to know
The most dangerous mistake is assuming that power lines are dead or inactive just because they are underground. You must never proceed with excavation based on an assumption; you must always seek official verification that the lines are not live before you begin your work.
How to apply
- Review the safety protocols provided by WorkSafe to understand the required excavation standards.
- Use the BeforeUdig service to access and check maps of the specific area where you intend to dig.
- Verify the status of all underground electrical lines through the appropriate channels.
- Implement the safety protocols throughout your entire digging and excavation process.