Is there any underground electricity cables lying in your backyard? In case you want to do some earthwork or landscaping in your backyard ensure where underground electricity cables might be lying.
Usually people are aware of where their gas and water pipes run, but they often don’t care and forget about the location of their power lines that might be lying underground.
Most of time The Electrical Safety Office keeps reminding the homeowners and the public at large to be careful before and while landscaping activity, but often missing the exact location may lead to major mishap.
Tips to consider before you Dig:
- Understand that electric cables are often tough to detect as usually they may be encased in some other equipment like steel, concrete, or even plastic pipe.
- Search for other indications of underground electric cables like conduits and pipes on walls heading to the ground.
- Search out if there is any underground electric cable heading towards the buildings from the street or between two buildings or to pools, garden lights, street lamps, sheds, pumps etc.
- Just ensure if you have done any changes in ground level recently like ground levelling that might reduce the depth that you have expected underground electric cables are placed.
Safety Tips While Digging
When conducting any backyard landscaping, it’s necessary to be aware of the minimum depths for electrical pipes and cables. Usually the underground pipes or cables are as low as 500 mm deep in the surface of your yard. This piece of information is available in plans you’ll receive from the utility provider.
But most of time the utility provider may not inform about the exact location, but just the presence of pipes and cablings.
If you forget to ensure about the above tips and guidelines, possibilities are that you may inadvertently get contacted with underground electric cable while digging your backyard or a post hole, which may lead to fatal mishap. To avoid any such fatal accident just ensure to have a safety switch installed on every electrical circuits, which is the ideal way to protect your family and yourself from any kind of havoc. Safety switches can be life savers!
Synopsis
Having an in-depth idea of right placement and depth of electrical cables in your yard is of the essence if you plan to dig your yard for any type of alterations at home. You must follow the mentioned guidelines and tips to avoid any mishap while carrying out the digging work at your yard. Keep these tips handy and be safe and secure!
