Look up and know what is below

Whether it’s painting your house, digging up and resowing your lawn, or building a fence – in fact, any DIY around the house – to stay safe it’s important to look up and know what’s below.

Look up – safety around overhead power lines

Treat overhead power lines as live at all times. Keep yourself and any equipment at least 4m away from overhead lines – electricity can jump to your equipment and you.

Temporary disconnections

Arrange a temporary disconnection if you’re doing anything near a service line – that’s the line that connects a building to the pole on the roadside.

Contact your retailer (the company you pay your power bill to) to arrange your temporary disconnection. If your disconnection is during business hours, it will be free. Your retailer will need at least 24 hours’ notice.

 

 

Know what's below – safety around gas pipes and electricity cables and pipes

If you’re doing any type of digging or earthworks within your property or on the roadside, to stay safe you must first find out where underground gas pipes and electricity cables are.

beforeUdig

beforeUdig is a free online service that will send you detailed plans of where underground gas pipes and cables, and other utilities, are located. beforeUdig will need 48 hours before you start work to provide the information to you. 

beforeUdig