LinesearchbeforeUdig protects Mainline Pipelines Limited high-pressure fuel network.
In collaboration with the land agency and maintenance services provided by Fisher German, Mainline Pipelines Limited has been utilising the LinesearchbeforeUdig (LSBUD) service for over ten years to ensure that third party users can enquire where pipelines are located to ensure the safety of their works.
Mainline Pipelines Limited (MLP) owns and operates an underground high-pressure fuel network across the UK. It has been a member of LinesearchbeforeUdig (LSBUD) for over ten years, which forms a major part of the asset protection strategy.
The pipelines run at extremely high pressure and MLP is keen to ensure that third party users can enquire where pipelines are located to ensure the safety of their works. Every third-party undertaking excavations must know where pipelines are and follow MLP guidance to avoid significant safety implications.
The LSBUD service filters through all the enquiries (over 2 million per annum) received across Great Britain and passes only the relevant enquiries across to MLP. This ensures that all enquiries are initially screened by the service but the MLP administration team at Fisher German only deal with enquiries that are pertinent to the MLP network, saving them significant time and resources.
The Fisher German team dealing with the enquiries can then arrange technicians to attend site meetings or supervise work as necessary. These meetings help the third-party work safely around such important assets.
As part of the small number of encroachment investigations that MLP undertakes when third parties have worked near their pipelines without using LSBUD, MLP strongly recommends LSBUD to the third party as a learning point from each incident. This recommendation ensures that the third party can:
• Integrate LSBUD into their procedures
• Get the added benefits of finding out about other assets that could be within their future work areas belonging to the other 60+ LSBUD members
• Avoid future encroachments.
This cooperative approach from MLP ensures that it is not just the third-party user that benefits but also all the other LSBUD members.
Outcome
• Many more enquiries checked against MLP’s apparatus-now averaging over 150,000 enquiries a month.
• A user-friendly system for third parties to check their works each time to ensure the safety of MLP’s assets and the third party works.
• Filtered responses meaning the administration team only need to deal with those relevant to the MLP network.
Download the full case study here
About LSBUD
LinesearchbeforeUdig (LSBUD) is a free to use online search service that any individual (“User”) can use to check works against over 60 asset owners’ (“Members”) utility assets. These assets include hundreds of thousands of kilometres of underground and overhead pipes and cables in the electricity, gas, high pressure fuel, water and fibre optic networks. The LSBUD service processes over 2 million enquiries per annum- that’s more than one every 15 seconds.
The service is designed to be used by anyone that needs to know where utility assets (pipes and cables) are in order to work safely. This includes: contractors, excavators, Fencing installers, Groundworkers, Private Individuals, Farmers, Conveyancers and many more.
Enquiries can be for simply checking what is there for future requirements or for immediate use, ie for an urgent excavation. Works can be of any scale from a highway scheme to simply replacing a garden fence.
To find out more, visit LSBUD online at www.lsbud.co.uk or call the team on 0845 437 7365
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