PUMA – The new Accreditation Scheme for Survey Companies offering PAS128 utility surveys
Blog published 14 November, 2023, written by: Sam Roberts, Director of Met Consultancy Group & Technical Committee Chair of The Survey Association
Understanding the location of underground utilities is paramount to ensure the safety of workers, prevent costly damage to infrastructure, and adhere to legal requirements. It also plays a critical role in optimizing the design and execution of construction projects.
The accurate location of underground utilities is crucial for several reasons. These include:
1) Safety: Accurately identifying and marking underground utilities is essential to prevent damage during excavation and construction. Striking an underground utility can cause significant hazards, including:
Electrical hazards: Damaging electrical lines can lead to power outages, electrocution, and fires.
Gas leaks: Puncturing gas lines can result in explosions and injuries.
Water contamination: Damaging water pipes can contaminate drinking water supplies.
Disruption of communication services: Digging into fiber optic cables can disrupt phone, internet, and cable services.
2) Design considerations: Knowing the precise location of underground utilities allows architects to plan their designs accordingly and avoid potential conflicts. For instance, an architect can design foundations and footings to avoid clashing with buried pipes or cables.
3) Cost-effectiveness: Identifying underground utilities early on helps avoid costly delays and rework during construction. Damaging a buried utility can lead to significant repair expenses, project delays, and potential lawsuits.
4) Compliance with regulations: In many jurisdictions, it is legally mandated for architects and contractors to locate and mark underground utilities before commencing any excavation work. Failure to comply with these regulations can result in fines and penalties.
5) Efficient construction planning: Accurate knowledge of underground infrastructure allows for more efficient construction planning and coordination. Contractors can plan excavation routes and equipment placement to avoid conflicts with utilities, minimizing disruptions and ensuring project timelines remain on track.
But utility asset records supplied by asset owners can be unreliable and incomplete, and do not show many underground hazards, especially on sites within the private realm. To overcome these challenges, a utility mapping survey offering evolved to identify and accurately locate underground utility assets using geophysical methods, visual inspection, and geospatial survey techniques.
However, the application of these methods varied widely and delivery of such services was largely unregulated and subject to exploitative business practices in the early years of development.
It was for these reasons that the PAS128 Specification for Underground Utility Detection, Verification and Location was developed in 2014, bringing together stakeholders from across the Built Environment sector to produce a standard aimed to provide Clarity, Consistency and Classification of utility survey results.
Now, 10 years on and a significant document revision later, The Survey Association has developed the next major stepping stone to improving confidence and raising standards within the Utility Mapping Profession.
The PAS128 specification is complex and not well understood, and there are still many companies who claim to provide surveys to PAS128 standards that do not fulfil the requirements of the specification. PUMA is an accreditation scheme that will provide a benchmark and create a national standard for best practice for underground surveys.
PUMA will give clients of accredited survey companies confidence in the level of service and the quality of data provided, as well as saving them time and potentially costly delays. As well as raising standards, it provides surety that all PUMA accredited survey companies that claim to work to PAS128 actually do so.
Find out more about PUMA here: https://www.tsa-uk.org.uk/puma/