Don Incoll was called out after a contractor had already hit a cable at the front of his property.
DON Incoll has a passion to bring safety to his community.
His Healesville business GroundScope was started after the ex-Telstra employee found a definite demand for an underground pipe and cable locating service.
He is happy to provide a reliable on-site locating service for anyone about to undertake any digging works taking the risk factor out of not knowing ‘what’s below’.
“It is not unusual to find live pipes and cables very close to the surface,” he said.
“Over the years various landscaping and other works can alter the original ground level which can then be significantly different from when a service was installed.”
After working with Telstra for nearly 30 years, Mr Incoll knows all too well the risks involved with digging.
He warns people that striking power cables can endanger the lives of anyone who comes in contact with them and possibly cause death.
“A fair amount of my time (at Telstra) was spent repairing damage to cables caused by digging of one sort or another,” he said.
Only recently, a Yarra Valley town was shut down due to a gas pipe being severed by an excavator and another incident saw homes and businesses without any communications for days because a telephone cable was damaged.
“Commonly, fence post augers go through domestic phone cables and concrete saws cutting in new driveways can damage distribution cables.”
“Those who damage the cables are also liable to replace them.”
GroundScope provide an affordable solution to this.
“Anyone about to dig or excavate has a ‘duty of care’ to ensure that the worksite is safe and that underground assets such as water, gas, power, telephone and sewerage are not compromised or damaged,” Mr Incoll said.
“You don’t want to find the cable the expensive way!”
Local Barb Honan of Barb’s B&B says she knows how important it is to have underground cables and pipes checked before digging and doing any renovations.
Barb said that the contractor building her bed and breakfast didn’t find out where pipes and lines were located and as a result the sewer pipe was accidentally dug up, resulting in an additional cost of $4500. “I certainly wish GroundScope had been around when I was building the bed and breakfast,” Barb said.
GroundScope is based in Healesville and areas serviced include Melbourne Eastern Suburbs and the Yarra Valley.
Call Don on 0400 603 333 for more information.
Alternatively visit www. groundscope.com.au.
