Jim Denholm – Scottish Power

Managing Cable Strikes

• 2111 reported cable damages from 01/01/2015

• Average of 264 incidents per month.

• 95% of cable strikes affect Low Voltage apparatus.

• Less than 1% of these incidents have resulted in injury or harm.

• High percentage of damage costs are unrecoverable.

Target Unit cost of repair

• 33kV u/g fault - £9800

• 11kV u/g fault - £6876

• 415V u/g fault –£2820

The costs are a running average and it has to be said that faults can run at 2 or 3 times this target depending on where the actual fault occurs.

Typical incident overview

• Installation of new Astro Turf pitch for school.

• Excavator pulled HV cable out of ground.

• No cable records on site. • Contractors unaware of

cable. • Did not think that cables

would be located in this area.

• No application of HSG 47

Serious incident overview

• Installing new street lamps. • Using a road breaker • Using multi utility plans,

scale did not identify HV cable.

• Operator sustained serious burns to head and legs.

• Not wearing FR / Arc protection.

• Poor application of HSG 47

Serious incident overview

• JCB came into contact with a 33,000 volt oil filled cable.

• Oil from cable leaked into the surrounding excavation.

• To facilitate the repair, a mature tree had to be removed.

• No cable records on site • No application of HSG 47

Utilities can be located in obscure locations including woodland, forests, country parks, golf courses, football pitches, fields and on hills.

Serious incident overview

65 year old male sustained serious injuries when he mistakenly cut into an 11000 volt cable duct.

Reduce the number of cable strikes

The safety of our customers and staff is built into everything we do.

Initiatives and Controls Website – Guidance and Advice

Safety is more than a consideration for us,

and the safety of our customers is a central

component built into everything we do.

Initiatives and Controls

• HSG 47 Seminars

• Dedicated Plant Protection Officer

• Robust 3rd party damage process

• Access to cable records

• H&S interface with repeat offenders

• Established Safety Action Groups with major

contractors.

• C.A.T & genny training

And finally………Something to think about