Help with damaged underground cables

[GarryB56]

Hi,
I'm looking for some advice.
We are a garden irrigation company and I have an electrical background (up to 16th edition).
We're carrying out an installation in a garden and have damaged 5 armoured cables (one a fibre optic) with our trenching machine.

The cables in question were for a new install to an outbuilding and were not live. They were buried under soil about 75mm with no mechanical protection or yellow warning tape.

The electrical contractor has told the client that he cannot do resin joints as they won't be able to sign off the installation.

Any professional opinions on these points in relation to current regulations would be greatly received as the cost of repair is going to be high
and they're trying to put all the liability on us.

Many Thanks

 

[JD6400]

They should have informed the poor bloke , it is hard enough making a living with out prats keeping quiet .
But regardless of being informed of underground services or not , to open a cut with out scanning first is just poor and unsafe full stop.
We have both a walk behind bobcat trencher and a tractor mounted one amongst our ground works kit , and the carnage they can cause is bloody scary if not used with respect.
Granted it is still by the grace of God that you hopefully miss the unknown , but a bit of planning does help .
I tend to find if the cat puts up a metal signal it is normally BT or power any way , and even if it is an obsolete water pipe , the trencher will not like it much .

 

[Simon47]

The point I wish to address is their statement about not being able to do resin joints... unless I'm much mistaken, there is absolutely nothing in the regulations that would prevent them from signing off a cable with a resin joint in it. If they are adamant this is the case, ask them which regulation this would contravene and how it would contravene it. If they cannot provide a valid regulation (we can check it) then they are quite frankly talking garbage.

We already know the answer to that - they are talking bol...rubbish

Fibre repairs are possible but a very specialised job. If they were in duct then pulling a new one through would be the easiest/cheapest option I suspect (even if duct severed you can patch that). Otherwise if they were directly buried then I think there are companies who could do the equivalent of a resin joint repair for fibre, but cost trade off would need to be considered.

Well yes, they can be jointed, but it's going to cost. You'd need someone who could patch in a length of new fibre (so two fusion splices/fibre) and then either patch things up to contain it, or get someone else to do that. Will be expensive, I used to deal with a company that would put fibre in for us at my last job - the cable is cheap, putting the ends on is the expensive part. For that reason, it's often easier buying pre-terminated cables - just order by cable type/number of cores/length.

Without any warning given (but person who engaged you, or due care with tape and depth by installer) I would be arguing it is not my problem!

Indeed, IF there was no reason to expect anything to be there then it's not really your fault. But as already suggested, there may be clues that ought to have made you curious ...

Having said that, I was laying a path in our garden recently. I knew there was a cable (and water pipe) to the greenhouse, but was still surprised to find them where they were - the pick literally scuffed the SWA on its way past. Buried about 1" deep, if that At first I thought I was just tugging at yet another tree root.

 

[sanbernardelec]

Fiber repair is so expensive. That's why it is very easy for the other party to point their finger on you, I suggest let you insurance company do the work