Incidents do happen. There are hundreds of thousands of kilometres of underground pipes and cables which carry our essential services to households and businesses around the country. And this amount is increasing everyday. Therefore the likelihood of coming across these underground assets while excavating is increasing too.

Over the years we’ve seen a wide variety of accidents and disruptions from excavators unwittingly digging up underground assets. Ruptured sewerage pipes, explosions from gas mains and even deaths from contact with underground electricity cables have occurred. The severity of incidents varies greatly – as does the resultant impact.

In the past, incidents have lead to communities being isolated from telephone services including the 000 number. Police, Ambulance and Fire Brigade services have been forced to rely on backup communication networks. For someone in Australia’s remote communities, a lack of communication can lead to fatal results.

There is also of course the personal impact of an incident to the individuals responsible. Serious injury and death do happen. And if you negligently damage underground pipes or cables you may be faced with criminal prosecution and significant damages claims.  Commercial damages from businesses unable to function have been known to run into millions of dollars. 

The Dial Before You Dig service exists to help minimise these damages and disruptions from occurring.