Upgraded subsurface utility standard comes into affect
21 May 2019
Following a three year journey, a committee
overseeing an upgrade to the management of subsurface utilities are
celebrating with the release of
Australian Standard AS5488
–
Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE).
The updated standard addresses one of the key challenges on a
construction site – when existing underground utilities are not
documented accurately, or information on existing infrastructure is
simply not available.
WGE’s Rob Sansbury has been involved with the upgrade
of AS5488 since the beginning, canvassing
Engineers Australia
before getting
Standards Australia involved for
support.
“I feel a combination of being immensely proud and tremendously
relieved, “ Rob said of the newly-released Standard.
“To be honest, if someone had said to me three years ago that it was
going to take three to four years to get it across the line, I’m not so
sure I would have done it.
“But, this is kind of one of those altruistic things that when my
engineering career ends, if my greatest input is contributing towards
the upgrade of an Australian standard, I’ll feel very proud about it. I
know this is a really fantastic document; now, it comes down to how
people choose to use the information.”
Rob sat on the committee as Engineer Australia’s national
representative, working alongside organisations including
Australian Industry Group, Australian Institute of Mine Surveyors,
Austroads, Dial Before You Dig, Energy Networks Australia, Geospatial
Information & Technology Association, National Utility Locating
Contractors Association, NBN Co, Roads Australia, SafeWork NSW,
Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute, and Water Services Association
of Australia.
“The first time the Standard came to the fore was in 2013, there wasn’t
a Standard in Australia before then,” he said.
“I was working on the
Gold Coast Light Rail project and during my
interaction with
Queensland Transport Main Roads I
learned that a standard was being put together. I was asked if I wanted
to sit on a sub-committee to contribute to that standard. That was in
2011, with the standard released in 2013.
“However, in my opinion it was incomplete. There was critical
information, particularly from a design engineering point of view, that
was missing. Personally I felt there was some unfinished business to
produce a more holistic standard that encompasses everything critical to
subsurface utilities.”
Rob set to work petitioning industry advocacy groups, such as Engineers
Australia, to expand and improve on the information in the original
standard.
“There are six Standards across the world now, Australia included.
Before now all the other standards – from United States to Great
Britain, also in Ecuador – all their Standards were far superior to
ours. Australia just didn’t have a national standard that was robust
enough,” he said.
“The content I’ve contributed towards the new standard is unashamedly
biased from a design engineer’s perspective. What it’s intended to do is
provide recommendations and information by which the management of
subsurface utilities, or SUE, can be done better. There’s a range of
items that Part 2 deals with that advises how design and utility
engineers in a consulting space can better manage subsurface utilities.
“There’s no doubt that utility authorities, developers, constructors and
contractors – really, the industry at large will develop benefit from
this. At the end of the day, the Standard is creating a safer, lower
risk, less expensive means by which to manage subsurface utilities.”
As the industry moves forward and technology continues to improve, Rob
says it will see a natural evolution in the AS5488 document beyond the
new 2019 version.
“As equipment becomes high tech and changes, and we have different means
by which we can locate and design utilities, so the Standard will
evolve,” he said.
Following the release of the upgraded AS5488, Rob has been invited to
speak at the World Engineers Convention, which is being
held in Melbourne later this year. The presentation will discuss the new
upgraded Standard and how the industry at large can benefit from it.
Those who are interested in learning more about the upgraded Standard
can do so now through an online training module.
Open Learning, in partnership with
Engineering Education Australia and
Consult Australia, developed an online AS5488
training module aimed at practitioners who manage subsurface
utilities – including engineers, designers, managers and state or
council authorities.
The online module covers:
-
Defining what subsurface utilities are
-
How subsurface utilities are currently managed in Australia
-
Case studies that demonstrate how issues can escalate within the current framework
-
Who is responsible for different aspects of utilities and projects
-
The importance of following existing international standards of managing subsurface utilities
For more information about how to access the training, visit the
Open Learning
website,
https://www.openlearning.com/.
Wood & Grieve Engineers, now part of Stantec, would
like to congratulate Rob Sansbury and his colleagues for their efforts
in realising the upgraded AS5488 and for helping improve the property
industry for everyone involved.
--ENDS--
Source: Wood & Grieve Engineers - www.wge.com.au
Contact: N/A
External Links:
WGE Subsurface Utility Engineering, https://wge.com.au/specialism/subsurface-utility-engineering/
World Engineers Convention, https://www.wec2019.org.au/
Open Learning, https://www.openlearning.com/
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