ALC - Technics

A sub-contractor from Highley has been fined for safety breaches after a worker was burned by a ‘jet of fire’ when he hit an underground electricity cable with a steel pin while replacing pavement edging in Birmingham.

The worker, 38, from Bridgnorth, who does not want to be named, escaped with minor burns to his arms and eyebrows and had his clothing singed when the 415 volt cable sent a ‘jet of fire’ up the steel pin.

An investigation into the incident that took place on 16 August 2011 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Ricky Paul James, 46, the subcontractor responsible for the work, had incorrectly indentified the location of the live cable.

Last night saw the launch of the London Mapping Festival in Covent Garden. The London Mapping Festival (LMF) 2011 – 2012 is an 18 month programme of activities designed to promote the unique range of mapping, innovative technologies and applications that exist for the Capital. The festival will showcase all mapping-related disciplines including cartography, surveying, GIS, GPS and remote sensing.

Technics Group Directors Graham Mills and John Macintyre have become Fellows of the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors. Ken Hall, President of ICES, invited Graham and John to join ‘in recognition of your significant contribution to the surveying and civil engineering industries to date’. This follows a superb initiative, called Fellow by Invitation, which has been set up between The Survey Association and Chartered ICES and is open to Directors and owners of TSA member companies. The scheme links the two organisations closer together and opens up all the benefits of Chartered ICES membership to a wider audience.

The Survey Association held another free seminar yesterday covering Employment Law in the morning and Social Media in the afternoon. Siva Shadi and Anna Bunting of solicitors Davis Blank Furniss brought us up to date on Contracts of Employment, Bullying & Harassment and Competition & Confidentiality. Helen Coldicott from CFT then took us through Practical Social Media to Maximise your marketing. Both were detailed talks offering essential guidance and practical advice in these areas.

The Survey Association has released a video to help promote its excellent Utility Surveys guide. This is the first best practice guide in the UK and is essential reading for anyone responsible for excavations with regard to site management, health & safety, design, planning of facilities management. It is designed to inform both the people commissioning utility surveys and practitioners seeking to deliver a high quality and appropriate survey.

The Graduation Day for The Survey Association’s Introduction to Surveying Course was held on Friday 30 July 2010, at The Survey School at Worcester. TSA President, Graham Mills, presented James Pike with the Best Student Award.