LSBUD, an online safe digging resource, has revealed it welcomed more than 3.4 million searches – a new record – for underground pipes and cables through its central system in 2021.
This figure is up 13% on 2020, which the organisation highlights how industries are becoming more committed to safe digging than ever before.
Richard Broome, MD at LSBUD, said, “In order to approach the 3.5 million milestone, our portal has received a search enquiry every two seconds during the average working day. This is more often than we blink, which is just phenomenal. These searches precede all sorts of activity, such as farmers checking before replacing fences and excavation workers keeping safe digging in mind before digging up a road to install broadband and electricity cables or water and gas pipes.
“Clearly, operators from all industry sectors are taking the right steps to avoid the negative consequences that come from hitting an underground asset, chiefly health and safety disasters, plus significant financial and brand implications. It’s such brilliant news that the majority of people involved in digging work are taking note of the fact that this can all be avoided through asset searching.
“We want to thank every farmer, construction, highways, telecoms, water, gas and electricity worker, that searches before they dig. They’re keeping themselves and those working nearby safe while protecting all-important infrastructure from unnecessary damages. It is also great to see more homeowners and consumers performing a search. Out of the 3,000 new registrations we are now receiving every month, domestic customers are actually one of the fastest growing groups. It is great to see.
“We’re also seeing more and more decision-makers appreciating the importance of data sharing through making their networks visible on our platform. They are able to benefit from the ‘safety of the herd’ effect – the more asset owners who share their information through one central portal, the more enquiries they receive, while keeping everyone safe.”
