Grant Piraine
Jun 5, 2019
Across North America, the utility locate system is governed by a patchwork of regulations, standards, guidelines, and best practices intended to reduce the risk of damaging buried infrastructure. While these documents consistently require hand digging or hand exposure within a tolerance zone, they often fail to explain how hand digging should actually be performed in the field.
The absence of clear procedural guidance creates risk. Hand digging is widely perceived as inherently safe, yet when performed incorrectly, it can damage a buried facility just as easily as mechanical excavation.
The purpose of hand digging or vacuum excavation is to prevent damage by carefully exposing buried infrastructure. Vacuum excavation requires trained operators who understand equipment limitations and facility specific requirements. Hand digging, however, is often performed by individuals with no formal training in safe exposure techniques. Without proper method and awareness, hand digging can introduce unnecessary risk.
Utility Owner Requirements Still Apply
Each utility owner establishes its own requirements for how excavation should be performed near its buried utility infrastructure. Even when regulations or best practices allow a particular method, utility owner procedures take precedence and should always be followed.
Before any hand exposure work begins, excavators should consult available utility owner guidelines, published standards, or project specific instructions to confirm acceptable excavation methods near each type of buried facility.
What follows is a practical, field based guideline reflecting commonly accepted industry practices that can significantly reduce the risk of damage when hand exposing buried facilities.
Hand Digging Test Holes Directly Over a Buried Facility
When exposing a buried facility from above:
Use a blunt nose shovel rather than a pointed shovel.
Dig parallel to the facility, not across it. Digging across the alignment increases the likelihood of striking the facility.
Maintain a shovel angle no greater than 45 degrees. This allows the shovel to slide along the facility if contact is made.
Apply only arm strength. Do not use foot pressure, stabbing motions, or excessive force.
Once the facility is exposed, confirm with the utility owner whether any mechanical excavation is permitted within the tolerance or hand expose zone and under what conditions.
Many utility owner guidelines permit limited mechanical excavation parallel to an exposed facility, provided clearance is maintained and the facility remains visible and protected. These conditions vary and must be verified in advance.
Hand Digging from the Side of a Buried Facility
In some situations, exposing a buried facility from the side is safer and more controlled:
Mechanically excavate a trench outside the tolerance or hand expose zone, parallel to the presumed facility alignment and deeper than the expected facility depth, provided no other buried facilities are present.
From within the trench, follow safe trenching practices and use a blunt nose shovel to pry soil away from the sidewall, digging parallel to the facility.
Maintain a shovel angle no greater than 45 degrees.
Use only arm strength. Avoid stabbing or downward force.
As soil accumulates in the trench bottom, remove it with mechanical equipment outside the hand exposure zone to maintain visibility and control.
This approach reduces the likelihood of direct impact and allows for more controlled exposure in congested or uncertain conditions.
Why This Matters
Despite decades of regulation, there is still no universally published procedure across North America that clearly defines how to hand dig safely around buried facilities. This gap leaves critical safety decisions to assumptions, habits, and inconsistent field practices.
Hand digging should never be treated as a low risk activity simply because it involves a shovel. It is a precision task that requires awareness of facility type, alignment, depth uncertainty, soil conditions, and tool limitations.
Safe excavation within the tolerance or hand exposure zone depends not only on compliance with locate requirements, but on competence, method, and situational awareness at the point of ground disturbance.
Understanding how to hand expose buried infrastructure safely is a foundational element of owning your safety and protecting the people, assets, and services that depend on what lies below ground.