A Utility Survey – Can save lives!
The Health & Safety Executive have released the work-related fatal injury statistics for 2024-25
For the period April 2024 to March 2025 there have been 124 construction worker fatalities.
This is 14 less than the previous reporting period.
The below graph shows that the main causes were falls from height, being struck by a moving object or being trapped by a collapse or overturn.
This shows that whilst progress has been made, there is still work that needs to be done to keep Construction workers safe and ensure everyone goes home safe at the end of every day.
From this it is not clear if any fatalities are the result of damage from buried assets, with 7x deaths resulting from “Contact with electricity or electrical discharge”, which is an increase on 5, recorded for 2023 to 2024. These are unlikely to be from cable strikes.
Line Search Before You Dig (LSBUD) have also published their annual “Digging Up Britain” Report, which discusses the number of asset searches carried out in 2024.
LSBUD recorded 3.9 million searches last year, which is a slight reduction on the 3.92 million searches recorded in 2023. 2023 saw the highest ever number of searches recorded since the service began.
This demonstrates that the Construction Industry is safer than it has ever been with hazards from buried services and utilities; however, some instances of serious and life-changing injuries are still recorded.
For example, a water leak outside of a Newton Abbot pub, caused by gas repair works, was recorded by Mid Devon Advertiser in April 2025.
In addition, also in April 2025, a labourer suffered 50% burns when a 11kV underground electric cable was struck with a pneumatic impact mole.
The above relates to scenarios where HSG47: Avoiding Danger from Underground Services, was not followed.
There are numerous examples on the HSE website, under their Case Study Section.
The industry has changed significantly since 1998, where GEOTEC were educating the sector on the importance of a Utility Survey from a safety perspective; we are now championing the value of our surveys from a design point of view.
We must not lose sight as to why we started offering Utility Mapping Surveys in the first place – to keep people safe!
Nigel Knowles and Brian Payne (founding members, 1998)
+44 (0)1428 686 168
enq@geotecsurveys.com
