Protecting over 60 per cent of the UK’s utility infrastructure, Richard Broome shares how LSBUD has become the national safe digging service
The great thing about Linesearch BeforeUdig (LSBUD) is that it doesn’t take a branding expert to say why it exists; it exists to keep people safe,” begins Richard Broome, Managing Director. “Everything we do goes back to that one question of how we can help people to work safely; to reduce the risk of damages and incidents that could put people’s health at risk.”
Richard is a fully qualified RICS Chartered Surveyor, CAAV Agricultural Valuer and APC Assessor providing consistent delivery of high-quality land agency management and maintenance services in the utilities and infrastructure sector through various roles. Having worked for Fisher German LLP, one of LSBUD’s parent companies, for six years, Richard was seconded to LSBUD 11 years ago, a joint venture between Fisher German LLP and PelicanCorp, where he continues to work as Managing Director today.
“The foundation for LSBUD is as a platform to help people find out where things are under the ground, but also overhead, prior to arriving on site so that the necessary steps can be taken to reduce risk associated with project works. Whether working on a project like HS2 or putting a pond in the back garden, there are labyrinthine utility pipe systems delivering the services we often take for granted. So, we help to keep those essential services running,” he shares.
The company offers a free-to-use safe digging service providing utility asset maps for over 3.9 million searches every year. It strives to reduce injuries and deaths due to asset strikes, to ensure a prompt and accurate response to all enquiries, to increase its members’ knowledge of proposed works near their assets and to promote LSBUD as a key enquiry service in Great Britain.
LSBUD’s parent company, PelicanCorp, is a niche provider of software and services to utilities, asset owners and to the one call industry specifically for the protection of essential infrastructure. Its team has over 40 years of experience working with utilities, one call operations and local authorities, helping to provide efficient software solutions to increase awareness, improve information exchange and to re-engineer processes to deliver day-to-day benefits to the industry. Its unique technology platforms are developed through extensive industry knowledge and market experience. With customers around the world, it uses its own platform of products to deliver global services including LSBUD.
Multiple benefits
Fisher German LLP, LSBUD’s other parent company, is a leading national firm of chartered surveyors and specialist property consultants. It has offered professional services and support in all aspects of land and property management for over 170 years. The firm has been involved in the provision of advice to the utility and infrastructure sector for over 30 years and is proud of creating the original innovative www.linesearch.org service.
“We started off as an organisation that mainly looked after transmission networks,” Richard continues, “and have evolved to work with all sorts of different asset owners. Our largest network partners operate hundreds of thousands of kilometres. Over the years, the number of people using the services has really grown. We’ve seen considerable growth in the householder and agricultural sectors, for example. So, in terms of volume, we’re now at 52 percent higher than we were five years ago. When we started, I was tasked with writing a business plan with an ambition to get over two million searches. At the time, I remember thinking it was an audacious target but we’re now at almost four million.”
LSBUD’s service protects over two million kilometres of national infrastructure by responding to more than 3.9 million third party user enquiries each year. With over 60 per cent, and rising, of the UK’s utility infrastructure protected by LSBUD, it is firmly established as the nation’s safe digging service. With more than 160 members already registered, its collaborative approach enables safe digging for all. LSBUD is designed to be used by anyone that needs to know where utility assets are to work safely. Works can be of any scale from a highway scheme to simply replacing a garden fence. With 290,000 registered users, and 4000 more signing up every month, there is no other solution that can provide the same level of reach as LSBUD. The combined asset network includes gas transmission and distribution networks, electricity transmission and distribution networks, water and sewerage networks, high pressure hydrocarbon pipelines, fibre optic cable networks and district heating networks.
Members can secure their assets by gaining greater understanding of who is working near their network. Likewise, users can access information more quickly and easily. This visibility reduces unplanned interruptions and customer lost minutes. The platform helps to improve service resilience with reduced repairs and downtime, and fewer administrative resources are needed to respond to enquiries. Collectively, membership facilitates reduced risk to workers, improved productivity, faster roll out of major programmes and demonstrates pro-active encouragement of safe digging practices through collaboration.
Increasing collaboration
Digging up Britain 2024, the UK’s safe digging industry report by LSBUD, is the seventh edition, documenting the latest trends, hot topics and data from all the groundwork taking place across the UK last year. “With greater awareness around digging safety than ever before,” Richard explains, “it’s reassuring to see that 2023 was the safest year on record for the digging community, achieving the highest number of underground asset searches ever with 3.92 million searches conducted across the year. Indeed, when these numbers are compared to those of just five years ago, the portal is receiving 52 per cent more search enquiries, which shows that LSBUD’s ongoing programme of promotion and education on the need for a search before you dig is resulting in an increasingly joined up, collaborative way of working. The report reiterates the ‘safe digging for all’ message, and highlights who was digging, where they were digging and why they were digging. It continues to remind those remaining network operators of the benefit of sharing their data, and those doing the digging that the more people that search, the safer we stay as a nation.
“The gas industry is good at escalating the highest risk asset enquiries. So, if someone is carrying out a minor excavation near a low pressure main, for example, they might be provided with the guidance to go and work on their own. If, however, they’re doing a directional drill near a high pressure main, they might get someone to give them a ring or go and stand over them while they’re doing the work. The platform eliminates multiple lower risk enquiries, enabling gas companies to focus on the highest risk ones, thereby preventing potential damage to the network.
“While we do see data related to incidents, the lack of clarity on the cause still highlights that clearer, and more detailed, reporting is crucial. Without this information there is no benchmarking year on year. It means that as a community we are missing valuable information on where attention and focus is needed to help minimise accidents and protect the UK’s workers,” Richard shares. “With more people searching and more businesses sharing network information we can drastically reduce the number of pipes and cables being hit. This allows the country to function as it should, and it keeps people safe.
“Technology plays an important role in making digging safer. Whereas previously people in the US would call a number, report where they were digging and gain information that way, today, we have a web-based service. This isn’t just cheaper and more efficient, it’s safer too because when you receive plans within a matter of minutes, it’s much easier to be aware of the operating environment.”
Sector improvement
Looking to the future, Richard believes awareness will be the biggest driver for the digging sector. “We really need to ensure that the awareness and safety message is hitting at the right level. If you consider the agricultural community, for example, we go to shows where farmers are exploring the newest equipment and vehicles and try to grab a little bit of their attention. We want the managers and senior leaders of these organisations to acknowledge the importance of proactive rather than reactive safety measures.”
As a member of the Utility Strike Avoidance Group’s steering committee, Richard works to promote collaborated learning on utility strikes across the UK and innovative solutions to promote safety and efficiency for all involved with excavations and similar works. “I believe we need to change the narrative that incidents are someone else’s fault because I think we can all be better. That said, we can also learn from best practice as there is a lot of excellent work going on out there. With more people searching and more businesses sharing network information we can drastically reduce the number of pipes and cables being hit,” he concludes. “There are future challenges coming towards us that have the ability to disrupt the growth and stability the safe digging community is feeling at the moment, but staying safe by always searching before digging will always be the essential first step.”