Cost estimation of utility strikes: towards proactive management of street works

Abstract

The true (full) cost of a utility strike incident is rarely known. Generally, only the direct costs are used to measure the impact of utility strikes; the wider indirect and social costs are rarely quantified in monetary terms. Moreover, no established methodology exists to address this gap in knowledge, while access to fully documented records often presents the greatest challenge. This paper presents research that for the first time has been given access to 16 fully detailed utility strike case studies in UK urban areas. The research has identified and assessed the impacts of these utility strikes and provided an objective estimation of their associated (total) costs. These costs consist of those paid directly by the utility owner (direct costs), those borne by third parties in the contractual agreement (indirect costs) and those borne by other parties not engaged in the contractual agreement (social costs). Although the richness lies in the detailed case studies, the aggregated findings from all 16 utility strike case studies indicate that the total cost ratio – the ratio of indirect and social costs to the direct cost of repair – is 29:1. Thus there is a very substantial impact, which to date has been largely neglected.

Experimental Investigation into the Effects of Cast-Iron Pipe Corrosion on GPR Detection Performance in Clay Soils

“…As a result, the experimental results presented in the current paper can enhance the decision making process when locating or assessing iron pipes using the GPR method by providing information on the likely electrical properties of the soil surrounding the pipe and hence the choice of GPR to be used. This information could decrease the number of hazardous and costly utility strikes as the use of unsuitable geophysical methods has been identified as one of the main causes of utility strikes (Makana et al, 2018).…”

Augmented Reality for Subsurface Utility Engineering, Revisited

“…Excavation damage to underground infrastructure in particular is causing huge financial losses. Reports speak of GBP 270 million in the UK [6,22] and USD 30 billion in the US [9] annually. Of course, subsurface utility engineering (SUE) does everything to prevent damages by following established procedures.…”

Proficiency based progression simulation training significantly reduces utility strikes; A prospective, randomized and blinded study

“…This analysis would suggest that the true costs of the typical utility strike in the UK would be between £58,000-£217,500 [2]. In a subsequent report and based on further analysis Makana, Metje [4] re-estimated the average cost of a strike and concluded that it is~£100,000 per strike when all associated costs are included.…”