dbyd user kit

www.1100.com.au

USERKITDIAL BEFORE YOU DIG

Australia’s National Referral Service for Informationon Underground Pipes & Cables

INTRODUCTION

There are many hundreds of thousands ofkilometres of underground pipes and cablesthat carry our essential services tohouseholds and businesses acrossAustralia, and this amount is increasingevery day. The likelihood of coming acrossunderground infrastructure whileexcavating is increasing significantly too.

This kit is designed to help you reduce therisk of damage or disruption to essentialunderground infrastructure and ensureprevention of serious and fatal injury toyourself and others by making informedchoices before you dig.

Knowing where underground networks areburied before digging helps to protect you frominjury, expense and criminal prosecution.

3Visit: www.1100.com.au or dial 1100 USERKITDIAL BEFORE YOU DIG

CONTENTS


This kit includes the following important information:

What is Dial Before You Dig andHow Does it Work?

1. Our Service 6

2. Our Objectives 7

3. Damages Do Happen 8

4. Our Members 9

Lodging your Enquiry

1. Dial Before You Dig Online Process 11

2. Your User Profile 12

3. Quick Reference Guide 12

4. The Enquiry Confirmation Sheet 13

5. Receiving Information 13

6. Frequently Asked Questions 14

Safe Excavation

1. Digging Safely 19

2. Your Duty of Care 20

3. The Four P’s of Safe Excavation 21

4. Working with Infrastructure Owners 22

5. Locators 22

6. Emergencies 22

Dial Before You Dig is a free nationalcommunity service that connects usersinvolved in all forms of excavation with theinfrastructure owners of undergroundservices in that area using a fast andeffective referral system.

Our unique partnership with Australia’sowners of underground infrastructuremeans that we can offer you a single pointof contact to receive information aboutunderground networks at your plannedexcavation site so you don’t have to contactthe utility organisations individually.

You tell us where you plan to dig andwe pass on the referral to owners ofunderground infrastructure in that area.They send the information directly to you,generally within two business days.

Time frames for receiving information varydepending on how it is sent. Some utilitieswill send information by email that canarrive very quickly while informationsent by fax or post may take longer. Someowners of underground infrastructuremay also contact you by phone to discussyour proposed works or they may ask youto go to their office to discuss the job inmore detail.

The Dial Before You Dig service is designedto protect Australia’s excavators. Whetheryou are a backyard renovator or aprofessional excavator, the potential forinjury, personal liability and even deathexists every day. Obtaining accurateinformation about your work sitesignificantly minimises these risks.

There are two ways to lodge yourenquiry with Dial Before You Dig:

1. Lodge online by visiting our websiteat www.1100.com.au and log on using

your username and password or register as a new user.

2. You can also call our National Call Centre on 1100 to register and lodge anenquiry from anywhere in Australia.Our Call Centre operates Monday to Friday (except public holidays) and is staffed by a team of experienced consultants who can talk you through lodging your enquiry.

Visit www.1100.com.au for moreinformation on our service.

WHAT IS DIAL BEFORE YOU DIG AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

1. Our Service

USERKITDIAL BEFORE YOU DIG6

Our aim is to protect the community andour members’ underground infrastructureby providing a fast and effective referralservice which enables excavators to accessinformation from relevant infrastructureowners on the location of undergroundnetworks at their work site from a single,convenient point of contact.

2. Our Objectives

Our Priorities are:

To assist in the protection of anyone digging near underground infrastructure.

To ensure Australia’s underground infrastructure is protected.

To reduce the number of accidents and disruptions to essential underground services.

To grow our membership base to ultimately include all of Australia’sunderground infrastructure owners.

Along with our members and industry partners, to promote safedigging practices.


Over the years, we’ve seen a wide varietyof disruptions from excavators unwittinglydigging up underground infrastructure.Ruptured sewerage pipes, explosions fromgas mains and even deaths from contactwith underground electricity cables haveoccurred. The severity of incidents variesgreatly – as does the resultant impact.

In the past, these damages have lead tocommunities being isolated from telephoneservices including the 000 emergencynumber. Police, Ambulance and FireBrigade services have been forced torely on backup communication networks.For someone in Australia’s remotecommunities, a lack of communication canlead to fatal results.

There is also the personal impact of anincident to the individuals responsible.Serious injury and death does happen.

If you negligently damage undergroundpipes or cables you may be faced withcriminal prosecution and significantdamages claims. Commercial damageshave been known to run into the millionsof dollars leaving some businessesbankrupt and not able to function.

Dial Before You Dig exists to help minimisethese damages and disruptions fromoccurring.

WHAT IS DIAL BEFORE YOU DIG AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

3. Damages Do Happen


Our members are primarily Australia’sunderground infrastructure owners. Theyare the electricity, gas, communicationsand water companies – as well as manyother private enterprises. They range fromthe largest telecommunications companieswith hundreds of thousands of kilometresof cables through to a local businessprotecting an underground network runningfrom one side of the road to the other.

Many of our local councils are memberstoo. They are looking to protect the stormwater drains, sewerage infrastructure,roads, irrigation, underground electricitycables and telecommunications cablingbetween council locations.

Dial Before You Dig also has the supportof many organisations that do not ownunderground infrastructure. These aretypically industry associations ororganisations whose own members havea need to excavate.

They are members because they believe inthe importance of safe digging practicesand see the need to help promote theDial Before You Dig message throughoutthe excavation community.

For a full list of our members, visit theDial Before You Dig website atwww.1100.com.au and select “OurMembers” under “Membership” on thehomepage.

4. Our Members


Lodging your enquiry is free to you,the user.

Lodging your enquiry online is as easy asvisiting our website at www.1100.com.auand logging in from our homepage. Youcan register as a first time user. You willthen receive an email confirming your userdetails and password. Keep these detailshandy and use them each time you lodgean enquiry.

The online system allows both theprocessing of enquires and the managementof your contact details.

When you enter the site after log in, you willautomatically be presented with the customerdetails screen. Ensure your details are correctbefore proceeding to the search screen.

LODGING YOUR ENQUIRY

1. The Dial Before You Dig Online Process

Please Note – Dial Before You Dig does not send youinformation on underground pipes and cables.This information comes direct from the infrastructureowners and generally takes around two business days.

1. Enquiry Details• Tell us about your job.• Describe the activity you

plan to undertake.• Provide the location of

the dig site. You can do this through a number ofsearch methods. The most common method is Street Address.

2. Map Screen• Identify the dig site using

the various mapping tools.• Tell us more about your

job in the notes section.• Please ensure the dig

site you select is accurate.

3. Enquiry Summary• The summary page details the affected utilities.• You will receive a job

number for future reference. An Enquiry Confirmation Sheet will be sent to you confirmingthe enquiry details.

To lodge your enquiry, follow these three simple steps:


The User Profile is information about you,your organisation and the way in which youconduct your Dial Before You Dig enquiries.You can update your profile at any time andreview past enquiries.

There are three areas within the UserProfile area:

• The User Profile screen where you canupdate your contact details, usernameand password.

• The Enquiry Settings screen is great for regular users. You can standardiseyour onsite activity, the work site choiceand any special instructions. This removes the need to re-enter them each time you lodge an enquiry.

• The User History screen allows you tosearch and review your past enquiries.This section will also allow you to replicate a previous enquiry and resubmit to receive updated copiesof plans.

3. Dial Before You DigQuick Reference Guide

To access the Dial Before You Dig QuickGuide, visit www.1100.com.au and click‘ONLINE SUPPORT’ to download a simpleguide to help you lodge your enquiryonline.


2. Your User Profile


Once you have successfully lodged yourenquiry, Dial Before You Dig will sendyou an Enquiry Confirmation Sheet toconfirm your enquiry has been processed.This sheet can be emailed, posted or faxedto you.

The Enquiry Confirmation Sheet enablesyou to verify the details supplied for yourplanned dig site location. It also providesyou with the contact details of theinfrastructure owners relating to yourenquiry. This means you will know whichunderground infrastructure owners youcan expect to hear from. Also included ishelpful information on your Duty Of Carewhen undertaking your excavation project.

It is important to keep the EnquiryConfirmation Sheet in a safe place asa record of your enquiry.

5 . Receiving Information

Plans are the most common form ofinformation you will receive frominfrastructure owners detailing the locationof their underground networks. These mayarrive via email, fax or post. Plans that areemailed can arrive very soon after you lodgeyour enquiry while plans that are postedwill take longer. Depending on the deliverymethod used, you will generally receive theinformation within two business days.

Some owners of undergroundinfrastructure may contact you byphone to discuss your proposed works

or they may ask you to go to their office todiscuss the job in more detail.

Rather than sending plans, some membersmay also call you to find out more aboutyour excavation project and to providefurther assistance.

It is important NOT to proceed withoutfirst hearing from the relevant ownerof the underground infrastructure inyour excavation area. Should you requirefurther assistance, use the contactdetails provided on the EnquiryConfirmation Sheet to contact therelevant infrastructure owner directly.

4. The Enquiry Confirmation Sheet


If you can’t find an answer to yourquestions here, please contact ourHelpdesk by calling 1100 and followthe prompts.

What is the minimum computer systemrequirement to use the online enquirysystem?Screen resolution of 1024x768Internet Explorer 6+ orMozilla Firefox 2+Cookies enabledSun Java (latest version)Broadband connection (highly recommended)

How can I get help using the online enquirysystem?Online Help is available on most screensof the enquiry lodgement process. Simplyclick on the orange question marks in each

section. If you still require assistance, youcan contact our Help Desk by phoning 1100and following the prompts.

How can I find a location if the street orsuburb is not recognised?Try proceeding with the search withoutchanging any of the details provided. If thisfails, then try searching for the address ina neighbouring or adjacent suburb. If thisalso fails, you can try a different searchmethod i.e. intersecting streets or a suburbsearch and use the map tools provided tolocate the required dig site. If you still can’tfind the location, contact our CustomerCentre on 1100 and follow the prompts tothe Helpdesk.

How often are the maps updated?Our maps are updated at various stagesthroughout the year. As an example, ouraddress information is updated four timesper year and our street information isupdated twice per year. All our maps areas up-to-date as are available at a Nationallevel. We recognise that some newsubdivisions are not represented in ourmaps; we work to fix these as they becomeavailable in later updates for each of themap sets supplied.

How accurate do I have to be with thedrawing of the work site?Accuracy is very important in drawing yourproposed work site. The drawing youprovide is used by the infrastructure ownersto determine what information they needto send to you in relation to underground


6. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

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infrastructure located in that area. It isbetter to draw a slightly larger area andget more information than you may initiallyneed. If you draw a smaller location, you runthe risk of not receiving all the necessaryinformation and exposing yourself to thepotential of damaging an underground pipeor cable. This may result in costly repairsand potential injury to yourself or others.

What’s the best way to submit an enquirythat covers a large area?The most appropriate tool to use whendrawing your proposed dig site is the AreaTool. When using this tool, please ensurethat the area drawn on the map fullyencompasses and, in most cases, exceedsyour required area. Large enquiries requirethe mapping system to be zoomed out toa distance adequate to draw the required

zone. For example, if a trenching job alignswith a freeway or a major feature on themap then it would be appropriate to drawa shape around the required area. Thisensures that any possible inaccuraciescreated as a consequence of viewing mapsat such a large scale are taken into account.

Where the proposed enquiry locationexceeds the maximum zoom, additionalenquiries will need to be lodged separatelyto cover the entire area. For more help withlarge enquiries, please contact ourCustomer Centre on 1100.

How long is the information valid for?The information provided to you byinfrastructure owners has a finite lifetimeand expiration date as networks arecontinually being updated and extended.

This information is generally valid forbetween 14 to 28 days.

The time frame for your specific enquiryshould be included in the informationprovided to you, but if in doubt, pleasecontact the appropriate infrastructureowner directly. If the plan validity datesexpire before the excavation work iscomplete, a new Dial Before You Dig enquirymust be submitted to obtain the latestinformation.

Which reference/enquiry number do I usewhen I contact the Call Centre or anInfrastructure Owner?Each enquiry is allocated a Job Number,which you can use if you are contactingour Call Centre for information aboutthat enquiry.


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When contacting an Infrastructure Owner,there is a unique Sequence Numberallocated to them on your EnquiryConfirmation Sheet. Use this uniquenumber when you are contacting theInfrastructure Owner for information aboutthat enquiry.

How can I give feedback to the Dial BeforeYou Dig referral service?Feedback can be given either by clickingon the Feedback link or the Contact Us tab.These are both located on the homepage ofour website www.1100.com.au

Why does Dial Before You Dig ask aboutmy occupation and industry affiliationwhen I register?We use this information to help us monitortrends with customers of Dial Before You

Dig and to assist in the development ofmarketing campaigns for various groupsand industry organisations.

I have a Mac. Why can’t I use the onlineenquiry system?Our enquiry system only supports Firefoxon MAC systems. Try using the latestversion of this free browser for best results.If you have any difficulties please call 1100and ask for assistance.

I have forgotten my password, how can Iretrieve it?Passwords can be retrieved using theForgotten Password link that can beaccessed from the Log In Area. Simply typein your username and then click on theForgotten Password tab. Next click on theSend Password tab to confirm your

request. Your password will be sent to theemail address you have registered with us.If you can’t remember your username, youcan contact our Customer Centre on 1100and follow the prompts.

How I can update/change my information?To update or change your information, logon to the online enquiry system at ourwebsite www.1100.com.au and click on theUser Profile tab within the customerdetails screen. This area allows you tochange your username, password andunique security question.



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How can I see a list of previous enquiriesI have submitted?To view a list of previous enquiries, log onto the online enquiry system at our websitewww.1100.com.au and you will bepresented with the customer detailsscreen. Click on the user history tab andsimply complete the search filters and clickon the search button on the screen.

Is the service always free?It is free to lodge your enquiry withDial Before You Dig. On some occasions,depending on the enquiry, infrastructureowners may charge for the provision ofinformation although this is not the norm.

Which drawing tool should I use?The most effective tool is the Area Tool.This can be simply used to surround yourwork site whether it is a metropolitanproperty, a large rural area or stretch ofsuburban road. The Line Tool can be usedfor line works such as trenching or fenceworks. The Point Tool can be used for spotdigging or small excavation projects.


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Avoiding underground pipe and cabledamage is as simple as having the righttools, the right skills and the rightinformation.

It is integral to the planning stages of everyproject to obtain underground networkinformation. Dial Before You Dig exists tofacilitate this process. Lodge your enquirywith us and the owners of undergroundinfrastructure located within yourproposed excavation site will provide youdirectly with information – usually withintwo business days.

Check this information thoroughly to seeif it relates to the area you requested andmake sure you clearly understand it. If youare unsure about what the symbols meanor how to proceed always contact the

relevant infrastructure owner FIRST beforecommencing any excavation work.

When commencing work within the vicinityof underground networks, it is importantto observe minimum depths and clearancesas stated clearly in the information and onthe plans provided by the infrastructureowner. Underground networks may be atany depth below the surface.

Infrastructure owners can provideinformation about their requirements inregard to safe digging practices. This mayinclude manually exposing the infrastructure.Simply contact the owner of theunderground infrastructure to find out howto work safely around their networks.Their contact details are provided on theEnquiry Confirmation Sheet you receive

from Dial Before You Dig or on informationyour receive from the infrastructure owner.

Unfortunately, not all of Australia’s under-ground infrastructure owners are membersof Dial Before You Dig. Therefore neverassume that the plans you receive fromyour enquiry represent all undergroundinfrastructure in your excavation area.

Please Note: Underground location plans provideinformation about the presence of undergroundinfrastructure only; they do not pinpoint the exactlocation. You should use the plans as a guide tophysically locate the underground infrastructurebefore you start the excavation work and take thenecessary steps to protect this infrastructure.For more information about locating and working nearunderground networks, contact the relevantinfrastructure owners.

SAFE EXCAVATION

1. Digging Safely


It is important to know what yourobligations are when it comes toprotecting Australia’s undergroundinfrastructure.

The following are Good Practice Guidelinesfor under-taking any form of excavation.These should be complied with at all times:

• All constructors/excavators have aDuty of Care to protect any undergroundinfrastructure when digging or excavating.

• Underground network information should be sought well in advance of construction/excavation activities. These are available from infrastructureowners through the national Dial BeforeYou Dig referral service and dependingon the method used, can be accessedby you usually within two business days.

• Whenever the scope of works changesor plan validity dates expire, you must

submit a New Dial Before You Dig enquiry. Different plans have differentlife spans.

• Onsite inspections for identifying the presence of underground networks should always be performed. Should you require an onsite location, contactthe infrastructure owners directly.

• Constructors/Excavators must dig by hand when excavating or working closeto underground infrastructure.

• In the event that damage to an underground infrastructure occurs, youmust advise the infrastructure owner immediately.

SAFE EXCAVATION

2. Your Duty of Care


There is an easy way to ensure youtake all of the right steps in makingyour excavation project a success.

Just follow the Four P’s of Excavation:

• Plan – Plan your job. Use theDial Before You Dig service at least twobusiness days before your job is due tobegin to receive the information you need to carry out a safe project.

• Pothole – Potholing (digging by hand)is a method to assist in establishing the exact location of all underground infrastructure.

• Protect - Protecting and supporting exposed infrastructure is the responsibility of the excavator.

Always erect safety barriers in areas atrisk to protect underground networks.

• Proceed – But ONLY when you have Planned, Potholed and put the Protective measures in place.

3. The Four P’s of Safe Excavation


Our members are here to support you.

Infrastructure owners who becomemembers of Dial Before You Dig take theirrole in promoting safe excavation processesvery seriously. If you have any questionsabout the plans you have been sent or thelocation of underground networks thenplease contact the relevant infrastructureowners. They are happy to help.

You will find contact details for allinfrastructure owners affected by yourproject on the Enquiry Confirmation Sheetwe send you as well as on any plans youmay receive.

5. Locators

An efficient and easy way to take the worryout of locating infrastructure buriedunderground is to use the services of anaccredited underground locator. Thesecompanies will, for a fee, visit your worksite and using the latest technology, locatenetworks buried in the vicinity to help youavoid damage.

Individual infrastructure owners can putyou in touch with their accredited locators.

6. Emergencies

The Dial Before You Dig Service is not anemergency service. It is designed toprovide you with information on thelocation of underground infrastructure inorder to assist in your planning for safeexcavation. In the event of damage to anyunderground network, you should contactthe affected infrastructure ownersimmediately. If the situation is at all lifethreatening, please contact the EmergencyServices on 000.

SAFE EXCAVATION

4. Working with Infrastructure Owners

USERKITDIAL BEFORE YOU DIG22 Visit: www.1100.com.au or dial 1100

Visit: www.1100.com.au or dial 1100USERKITDIAL BEFORE YOU DIG

There are two ways to lodge yourenquiry with Dial Before You Dig:

Lodge online by visiting our website atwww.1100.com.au and log on using yourusername and password or registeras a new user.

You can also call our National Call Centre on 1100 to register and lodge an enquiry from anywhere in Australia.Our Call Centre operates Monday to Friday (except public holidays) and is staffed by a team of experienced consultants who can talk you through lodging your enquiry.

Visit www.1100.com.au for moreinformation on our service.


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