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Underground and Overhead Services Strike Prevention Awareness

A practical awareness course on not hitting the services that run under and over every worksite. Learn why striking gas, electricity, water or telecommunications is life-threatening and costly; how the free Before You Dig Australia (BYDA) enquiry works before any excavation; why plans are indicative, not exact; how to locate and pothole in the tolerance zone; how to work near overhead powerlines using approach distances, spotters and the knowledge that tiger tails are markers not insulation; and exactly what to do the moment a service is struck or plant contacts a line.
Also relevant for: Farm and Rural, Construction and Trades, Electrical, Plumbing and Gas
What You Will Learn
- Explain why striking underground or overhead services, gas, electricity, water and telecommunications, is life-threatening and costly, and why prevention starts before the first dig or lift
- Describe the Before You Dig Australia (BYDA) enquiry process and the 5Ps of safe excavation, and why utility plans are indicative rather than exact
- Explain how services are located and exposed safely in the tolerance zone using potholing and non-destructive methods, and why the asset owner's stated method governs
- Explain why overhead powerline approach distances vary by voltage and jurisdiction, why tiger tails are markers not insulation, and when a trained spotter is required, checking the current local rule and network operator
- Describe the correct response to a service strike or powerline contact: stay in the cab if plant is in contact, keep others clear, and call the network operator and 000
Course Content
- Every dig and every lift happens near something that can kill you
- By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Service strikes are common, expensive, and almost always preventable
- Four services, four ways to be hurt or killed
- Where the danger hides
- What this course is, and what it is not
- One free enquiry reaches every asset owner at once
- The 5Ps of safe excavation
- The plans are a guide, not an X-ray
- Using a BYDA response well
- Finding the service on the ground
- The tolerance zone: where the shovel takes over from the machine
- Potholing: exposing a service without breaking it
- Working around an exposed service
- Electricity can jump the gap, so the rules are about distance, not touch
- The safe distance grows with the voltage, and it isn't one national number
- Who sets the powerline approach distances where you work
- The overhead spotter: a real role, not a spare hand
- If plant contacts a powerline, the next minute decides everything
- Powerline contact: the response
- If you strike an underground service
- Report it: every strike and every near miss
- On the job: a service-crossed corner
- The five things to carry away
Who This Course Is For
Excavator and plant operators, civil and utility crews, plumbers and drainers, landscapers and fencers, farmers, labourers, site supervisors and anyone who breaks ground or operates plant near buried or overhead services.
Written by Kam Askari, Managing Director of Creative Directions Management Consulting Pty Ltd, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 Lead Auditor. MBA, Graduate Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety, MAICD. Checked against the sources listed below.
Sources and Legal References
This course is aligned to 18 official sources. Legal and regulatory references checked between 31 August 2026 and 1 November 2026.
Sources and Further Reading
This course draws on the following official sources. Always rely on the current version on the regulator’s website.
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationElectrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Act 2012 (Tas)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Act 2011 (ACT)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011 (NT)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationOccupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (ACT)As at 31/10/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW)As at 01/11/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Regulations 2011 (NT)As at 31/10/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)As at 31/10/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Regulations 2012 (SA)As at 13/09/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Regulations 2022 (Tas)As at 31/10/2026
- LegislationOccupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (Vic)As at 01/11/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022 (WA)As at 31/10/2026
Always rely on the current version on the regulator’s website.
Seven day refund if you have not started
Or
For employers and teams
Buy Seats for Your Team
$49.00 per seat, inc GST
Total inc GST$245.00
Or
What You Get
Certificate of Completion
This is to certify that
has successfully completed
All learning modules and the final assessment
Kam Askari
Director, Creative Directions Management Consulting Pty Ltd
This is a certificate of completion of a non-accredited professional development course. It is not a nationally recognised qualification, a VET statement of attainment, a competency card, a licence, or evidence of competency. It is issued by Creative Directions Management Consulting Pty Ltd, which is not a Registered Training Organisation.
Sample layout. Certificate ID WP-SAMPLE-0001 verifies as Hazardous Manual Tasks and Manual Handling Safety.
- Certificate verified by its ID
- 100% online, self-paced
- Six months of access
Bought for yourself: six months of access from the day you pay. Team seat: six months from the day the worker activates their code.
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