By law, underground ducting has to be colour-coded to comply with building and safety regulations. When excavating, this colour coding helps ensure no damage to underground cables has occurred.
Colour-coded ducting also serves as a warning sign for workers and helps to highlight the different types of cabling, so that on-site engineers know how to act accordingly to avoid damaging or otherwise interfering with live or potentially dangerous cables.Underground utility ducting typically has minimum depth requirements. For example, mains gas legally has to be buried at least 750mm beneath any public spaces. If you’re unsure about the minimum requirements for a particular type of underground ducting during a job, it’s worthwhile checking with the HSE to ensure any work you intend to undertake is compliant.
All members of your team should also have the requisite knowledge of the UK’s universal ducting codes. While many of these codes are only applicable to commercial premises, some of them also apply to domestic properties, which is why it’s important to know what you’re working with.
As a reminder, here’s what you should be aware of:
• Black ducting denotes a domestic mains electricity cable at a low-voltage.
• Yellow ducting denotes a service and mains gas pipe (this ducting is usually perforated to allow for gas venting – so don’t be alarmed if you see holes!)
• Red ducting denotes a high voltage electricity cable (this should be worked around with extreme caution).
• Blue ducting denotes water pipes and water barrier pipe such as Puriton, which should legally be installed at least 750mm beneath surface level.
• Orange ducting denotes cabling for street lighting and/or traffic signalling (traffic lights).
• Purple ducting denotes cabling for essential motorway services like traffic cameras, speed cameras and emergency phones.
• Grey ducting denotes telecommunications cables. However, sometimes green ducting is used for the same purpose.
If you’d like more information on what underground ducting you need for a drainage job, why not get in touch with our friendly and experienced team at Drain Depot today?
With great offers on underground ducting, you’ll find the advice you require and the products you need at affordable prices, all direct from our online store.
