Digging trenches in solar farm?

R

Russell

Well-known member
I've been asked the dig some trenches in a solar farm under the panels. I normally do domestic garden stuff and whilst the work would be nice and I'm happy driving a 3.5 ton machine I'm a little concerned digging around these panels and any cables under ground.
Should I
A: stop being a pussy and give the customer a price or
B: say , thank you no thank you?
 
S

Smiffy

Well-known member
Being a solar farm they should know where they put the cables !!!
If you that worried use a smaller machine
A 2t with a 250bladed bucket won't damage them even if you do hit them. Obviously bigger machine with smaller buckets have more potential to do damage
 
Storrsy

Storrsy

Well-known member
Russell said:
I've been asked the dig some trenches in a solar farm under the panels. I normally do domestic garden stuff and whilst the work would be nice and I'm happy driving a 3.5 ton machine I'm a little concerned digging around these panels and any cables under ground.
Should I
A: stop being a pussy and give the customer a price or
B: say , thank you no thank you?
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Just give them a price and put in a disclaimer, any cables not marked/made aware to you is their responsibility. As for digging around panels- I'm sure you'll be fine just take it steady👍
 
R

Russell

Well-known member
It looks like it will be fiddly as would need to be dug in lots of bits and can't dig in line with the trench. They said i would be covered under their insurance as a bonafied subcontractor. That sounds odd to me as i thought a bonafied subcontractor has to have their own insurance?
I dont normally include working in industrial/oil refinery/nuclear so would have to ask what they think of this.

JD450A said:
No thankyou..... And that's from the king of Dodgy cable excavation.
Click to expand...
you think it sounds dodgy?
 
Furniss

Furniss

Well-known member
Russell said:
They said i would be covered under their insurance as a bonafied subcontractor. That sounds odd to me as i thought a bonafied subcontractor has to have their own insurance?
I dont normally include working in industrial/oil refinery/nuclear so would have to ask what they think of this.


you think it sounds dodgy?
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Doesn't sound dodgy to me .... suss it out , speak to someone on site , then add a disclaimer.
 
Storrsy

Storrsy

Well-known member
Russell said:
It looks like it will be fiddly as would need to be dug in lots of bits and can't dig in line with the trench. They said i would be covered under their insurance as a bonafied subcontractor. That sounds odd to me as i thought a bonafied subcontractor has to have their own insurance?
I dont normally include working in industrial/oil refinery/nuclear so would have to ask what they think of this.


you think it sounds dodgy?
Click to expand...
I suppose it comes down to how much you want the work. It's sounds like a bit of a pain in the arse to be fair so perhaps no thankyou if you have other stuff on the cards. But reckon if you did do it you'd be best getting them to sign a disclaimer, can they isolate the cables/ turn them off when your digging around them to give yourself a bit of piece of mind? Not sure what kind of voltage we are talking here...
 
D

DaveDCB

Well-known member
Russell said:
It looks like it will be fiddly as would need to be dug in lots of bits and can't dig in line with the trench. They said i would be covered under their insurance as a bonafied subcontractor. That sounds odd to me as i thought a bonafied subcontractor has to have their own insurance?
I dont normally include working in industrial/oil refinery/nuclear so would have to ask what they think of this.


you think it sounds dodgy?
Click to expand...
As a sub contractor when I hit stuff(under ground/over ground!) I have never paid out for anything, or even been asked to, everything was at the main contractors risk.
covered under CPA terms.
 
R

Russell

Well-known member
I'm not a member of CPA, are they worth while?
Would be £306 a year for me.
 
R

Russell

Well-known member
Storrsy said:
I suppose it comes down to how much you want the work. It's sounds like a bit of a pain in the arse to be fair so perhaps no thankyou if you have other stuff on the cards. But reckon if you did do it you'd be best getting them to sign a disclaimer, can they isolate the cables/ turn them off when your digging around them to give yourself a bit of piece of mind? Not sure what kind of voltage we are talking here...
Click to expand...
When digging over the high voltage cables they will be isolated but when digging near some other cables up to 1000v they will be live and are 6mm2.
 
R

Russell

Well-known member
This is the type of fault I find most concerning should I have to get in a trench to hand dig.
With that arc flash will be molten copper and steel.
 
V8Druid

V8Druid

do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
Russell said:
This is the type of fault I find most concerning should I have to get in a trench to hand dig.
With that arc flash will be molten copper and steel.
Click to expand...
absolutely ... I have huge respect for 440V ... did all my own in work as usually had to re-do anything I'd paid to have done over the years :(:mad: ... bridge a couple of phases and the results're impressive ... you won't get up from it for sure .... 240 gives you nasty nip, but 440'll eat your hand :rolleyes::oops: and kill you doing it
 
Danny

Danny

Well-known member
Me personally

Digger driver + banks man/groundworker
Decent cat scanner
Welfare facilities

Then ask what there expectations/time frame is and normally main contactor is responsible for any cable strikes it might be worth sticking in a high day rate


Also how did they find you?
 
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