At Edge Underground, safety begins with using the best equipment available – such as the AXIS guided boring system.
Consideration of safety issues is an integral part of the initial stage of the planning process for any construction project and helps to shape the tendering process.
Equipment plays a key role in creating this safe worksite, as older machines will not have as many of the in-built safety mechanisms that newer equipment does.
Edge Underground Managing Director Stuart Harrison said the Edge Underground team uses the best equipment available, including the AXIS guided boring system, as it is equipped with the best operator safety features of all the microtunnelling equipment in the market.
“It’s designed with a Falling Object Protective System (FPOS) which is a safety enclosure that the operator sits inside, ensuring they aren’t exposed to the outside environment and protected from anything that might fall into the pit from above,” he said.
“The FPOS is unique to the AXIS – no other microtunnelling machine available has a safety enclosure at all.”
In addition to the FPOS, the AXIS has several noteworthy internal safety mechanisms to help keep personnel safe while completing the drill, including pressure gauges and strike alert.
“The pressure gauges, including a vacuum gauge at the rear of the machine, feed information to the operator to notify them of changes in ground pressure,” said Mr Harrison.
“It’s important to be alerted to these pressure changes as it could signify contact with a trench, which could be housing live wires that weren’t located by Dial Before You Dig (DBYD) services or pre-project geotechnical surveys.”
The AXIS’ in-built strike alert mechanism alerts the operator if the drill has encountered a power cable and the machine has become live.
If this occurs, the operator can remain safely within the machine until the power source has been deactivated.
Mr Harrison says the risks posed by changing in ground pressure are also further mitigated by the AXIS’ ability to retract and complete a pilot line.
“This allows us to confirm the ground conditions and when we start drilling, any discrepancies that are picked up by the pressure gauges ensures the team can avoid any problems,” he said.
Going trenchless
Mr Harrison said that specifying a trenchless method of pipeline installation such as microtunnelling in a tender, rather than open cut, can further improve safety outcomes onsite.
According to Safe Work Australia, excavation work is considered dangerous due to the risk of sudden excavation failures that limit the abilities of workers to escape if a collapse were to occur – with construction work being undertaken in or near shafts or trenches considered particularly high risk.
This risk increases the deeper the shaft or trench, with those deeper than 1.5 m considered high risk.
“While some trenchless methods such as microtunnelling and pipe jacking do require excavation of a shaft, the risks are much less than open cut,” said Mr Harrison.
“Compared to open cut which requires long lengths of trenches to be dug along the length of the pipeline, there is much less excavation needed for the shaft and site supervision is contained to smaller areas.
“This not only reduces the number of man hours and therefore the incidence of accidents are less, but there is also a reduced risk of public interference.”
For more information visit www.edgeunderground.co
This article was featured in the March 2021 edition of Trenchless Australasia. To view the magazine on your PC, Mac, tablet or mobile device, click here.