This section provides information on how you can keep safe when you're working near Western Power’s electricity network.
This information should be used in conjunction with the standards and regulations applicable to your industry. You need to ensure that there are adequate risk management procedures in place before working around the electricity network.
It is essential to know the location and voltage of any underground power cables and overhead network assets around your work area to assess the risk and carry out work safely. To get this information, contact Before You Dig Australia or freecall 1100.
Planning ahead is vital in ensuring you are safe when working near the overhead network. Limit the risk of accident and injury by gaining an understanding of the area you are working in.
Simple steps to achieve this are:
A danger zone is a specific area surrounding live electrical apparatus that ordinary persons, equipment and materials must not enter. The size of the danger zone is determined by the voltage of the electrical apparatus. Find out more about your obligations by visiting the danger zone section in your industry category.
Distribution assets include the low voltage network (415 - 1,000 volts) and parts of the high voltage network (up to 33,000 volts or 33kV).
To determine the voltage of overhead and underground assets in your work area, lodge a Before You Dig Australia enquiry. Submit your request for the following services at least 30 days before you need to start work (longer if you think assets might need to be removed or relocated).
Western Power offers a number of services for proposed works that may be impacted by transmission (33,000 volts - 330,000 volts) and communication assets. These include:
Should you wish to proceed with any of these services or for more information on:
A consultant will contact you within two business days to progress your enquiry.
All services are conducted on full cost recovery basis.
Ground collapse is one of the primary risks to be controlled in excavation work. Ground collapse can occur quickly and without warning, giving a worker virtually no time to escape.
When planning the work, select appropriate excavation methods and control measures for the working environment and consider the collapsible areas for overhead assets.
When working near underground assets, it is your responsibility to ensure the proposed work can be carried out safely.
Excavating, drilling and installing posts and poles can be life threatening if you do not know what is below the surface.
Accidental contact with network assets is not only dangerous but it can also leave entire communities without essential services.
Visit byda.com.au or freecall 1100 to submit an enquiry for plans detailing the location and voltages of Western Power network assets in your work area. The voltage information is used to determine your minimum approach distance.
Plan your works by submitting a Before You Dig Australia enquiry, conducting a Job Risk Assessment and performing a Safe Work Method Statement.
Prepare - Prepare by reviewing your plans and contacting the utility if you need assistance. Look for onsite asset and infrastructure clues such as streetlights, pillars and meters. Engage a BYDA Certified Locator prior to potholing
Pothole by hand or other non-destructive means to remove small amounts of soil to prove the location and depth of underground services in your work area.
Protect the assets and colleagues using barriers around the excavation site and work area.
Proceed with care.
Refer to your industry's regulations, codes of practice and guidelines.
Many vehicles and pieces of equipment needed for digging can extend into the overhead powerline danger zones. Reference your overhead Before You Dig Australia plans for the location and voltages of our powerlines to determine the clearances required.
This will help confirm the location of known and unknown underground services in your work area. Before You Dig Australia manage a list of certified locators.
This will ensure that the assets are protected from any excavation activities.
It is essential to prove the location of service assets in your work area before erecting barriers and creating allowances to maintain the appropriate clearances.
Call Western Power on 13 10 87 if you discover damaged insulation or cables, or if you discover a cable that is not shown on your plans.
Ground collapse is one of the primary risks to be controlled in excavation work. Ground collapse can occur quickly and without warning, giving a worker virtually no time to escape.
When planning the work, select appropriate excavation methods and control measures for the working environment and consider the collapsible areas for underground assets.
Anyone who works near the network has a duty of care to Western Power. If it is reasonably foreseeable that your works may impact upon overhead or underground assets then you must demonstrate due diligence.
To assist in this Western Power has identified minimum approach distances for both underground and overhead assets.
Up to and including 1,000V (low voltage)
Approach with care, avoid contact
1,000V up to and including 33kV (high voltage)
Greater than 33kV up to and including 330kV (transmission)
* Western Power must assess any works within 3m of cables 33kV and above. Permit and/or authorisations for your works may be required.
Non-destructive digging (or potholing) is the use of high pressure compressed air to break up the ground, which is then removed by a powerful vacuum unit.
A danger zone is a specific area surrounding live electrical apparatus that ordinary persons, equipment and materials must not enter. The size of the danger zone is determined by the voltage of the electrical apparatus.
If you are in charge of the work area, it's your responsibility to plan work so it can be carried out safely outside of the danger zone, and that nothing or no one enters it.
If your works enter the danger zone as prescribed in section R166A of the Work Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022, or you make contact with the network, you may be prosecuted and be liable for any damage to the network.
In addition to the above minimum distances, you should refer to your industry’s regulations, code of practice and guidelines.
Our electricity network covers more than 255,000 square kilometres. This means that powerlines and structures are frequently located on or near private property, particularly in rural and remote areas.
In some areas Western Power may have an easement registered on the Certificate of Title of a property.
An easement, sometimes referred to as a ‘wayleave’, provides a ‘right of way’, allowing us and our contractors to access land to build and maintain electrical infrastructure on private property.
If you have an easement registered on your property, there may be some restrictions on the activities you can perform or structures you can place within the easements.
The guidelines outlining the activities that are limited have been developed with the safety of the landowner in mind and include restrictions on:
It's important to know the location and voltages of all network assets in your work area so you can assess the risk and work safely around them.
The voltages determine the clearances required. Go to Before You Dig Australia or freecall 1100 at least two days before starting work.
You will receive plans showing the location of all overhead and underground network assets in the vicinity of your work area within 15 minutes of a request being submitted.
Privately owned electrical assets such as service lines from the green dome to the house or council-owned street lights will not appear on the plans unless they are privately registered.
When working near underground assets, it is essential to follow the five Ps of excavation:
It is also mandatory for the customer/excavator/contractor to physically locate all services before any excavation works (Occupational Safety and Health Regulation 1996 3.21). Never assume the depth and alignment of cables. Remember - only use Before You Dig Australia plans as a guide only.
When undertaking any works, it is the responsibility of the customer/excavator/contractor to ensure that all due care and safe clearances are observed and maintained. Check the Utility Providers Code of Practice for Western Australia for works in road and rail reserves.
Landowner’s activities are limited for safety purposes within clearance zones. These zones are applied to electrical infrastructure in the absence of a registered easement.
The guidelines by which activities are limited are in line with easements.
The distance of a clearance zone is defined by the Australian Standard for overhead line design (AS/NZS 7000:2010).
Western Power does not support any development within the clearance zone of an overhead powerline unless the area has been properly assessed and approved in accordance with relevant standards and procedures.
Western Power or a suitably qualified and competent professional can assist you to calculate the clearance zone on request. We complete the engineering assessment, which includes a survey component. You can arrange for the survey through a licensed surveyor.
Be aware that upon a study being conducted to determine the clearance zone, a building cannot be safely built unless it also complies with danger zone requirements prescribed in section 3.64 of the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996.
Tiger tails are yellow and black sheaths that can be installed on low voltage conductors (up to 1,000 volts) to improve visual awareness of overhead powerlines - they do not provide insulation or reduce the danger zone.
The cost to install and remove covers on one bay of low voltage mains directly adjacent to a work site is based on the following requirements:
To safely perform work within the overhead danger zone or minimum approach distances underground of distribution assets, you can request us to isolate the network assets within your work area.
There are many reasons why our infrastructure may need to be removed or relocated. Perhaps it is for a special event to ensure safe access or there may be equipment in the path of a proposed development. Learn more about removing or relocating our equipment.
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