How to Avoid Underground Utilities During Directional Drilling

Underground utility lines must be installed safely and appropriately. However, horizontal drilling poses unique challenges due to significantly more limited visibility than vertical drilling. However, it is possible to limit risks by utilizing the most effective (HDD) equipment and ensuring high-quality training. Safety is best ensured by avoiding contact with existing utility lines, including electrical, sewage, gas, water, chemical, and steam. Not only can incorrect drilling pose costly risks to equipment, but it can be dangerous to the operator and others nearby. For example, if the drill comes into contact with underground electrical wires, there is a risk of electrocution, whereas a strike to a natural gas line could result in a gas leak or potential explosion. Reading and understanding the following information will help ensure that drilling is completed efficiently, effectively, and safely.

While HDD is considered a trenchless technique, sometimes trenches must be dug out to accommodate machinery or a reception pit. To guard against cave-ins at trench sites, it is essential that trench/excavation controls are effectively implemented in accordance with (29 CFRE Part 1926 Subpart P).

To avoid potential crush injuries due to unexpected movements of machinery, workers must never be present in the area between a machine and a trench wall when the drilling machine is moving down a ramp towards a hole.

There have been several occurrences of fires and explosions in connection with HDD. Often, these could have been prevented if the appropriate safety measures had been taken. For example, an HDD operation that aimed to install underground cable in Kansas City, MO., had an accident that led to disaster in 2013. The workers at the site relied on hand-dug “potholes” along the anticipated path of the drill for guidance, revealing two utility lines approximately two feet underground. Upon this discovery, they assumed one of these lines was the gas line they were looking to avoid striking, even though it was not quite as deep as they had anticipated. They did not take the additional measure of verifying this assumption, and as it turned out, both of these lines were electrical, and the gas line was set deeper. They continued working, drilling deeper to lay the path for the new cable—until they struck the gas line, causing an explosion and fire injuring three HDD workers, destroying a restaurant, and causing significant damage to nearby structures.