What is Suction Excavation?
Suction excavation is the safest and most cost-effective alternative to conventional excavation methods. It safely and easily deals with all spoil types including clay & saturated grounds you may expect to encounter during the uncovering of buried services.
Applications:
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Water, Gas, Electric and Telecommunication lines
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Railway bridge works
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Confined spaces
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Tank excavation
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Sewage works
What is Suction Excavation?
Vacuum excavation is a relatively new process of non-destructive digging, using compressed air to safely agitate and dislodge the ground, then removing loose material via a high powered suction suction hose into a storage hopper.
Why is it used?
Primarily used when excavating sensitive areas in the ground such as around utility lines, pipelines, or tree roots, it is by far the safest, quickest and most environmentally friendly way of exposing buried utility services, as opposed to using conventional hand or machinery digging methods, vastly reduces or eliminates utility service strikes, reducing manual labour and associated risk from injury, reducing damage to wildlife and consequential downtime.
What makes it the safest way of excavating?
It’s a more precision dig compared to traditional mechanical digging, reducing the chance of error. Personnel are not required to be inside the hole during the process, avoiding risk from direct physical contact with the ground or buried services. Manual labour is massively reduced, leading to less fatigue or injuries. Surrounding area is kept clean of debris and free from hazards. Service strikes can occur in seconds with a spade or mechanical machinery, while a Vacuum excavator will gently but quickly reveal underground services without any or little contact, leaving them safe and undamaged, to then assess and repair as required.
What are the effects of a Utility Service strike?
The health and safety impact of a service strike can reach far beyond the immediate working area, causing risk of injury to workers whilst posing a significant risk to public further afield. The environmental impact can be colossal, causing contamination to soil, the watercourse, including storm drains, ditches, rivers, potentially catastrophic to wildlife and the ecosystem. The cost of completing a remedial repair to a damaged utility is negligible when compared to the wider financial impact, which is much harder to quantify.