Gas pipe explosion survivor fronts new farm safety video

A fencing contractor who miraculously escaped without injury after driving a post through a gas pipeline on a Derbyshire dairy farm is fronting a new safety awareness campaign on the dangers of digging “blind”.

The contractor, who has asked to only be known by his first name, Elliott, had been involved in a fencing project on the farm at Wessington, near Alfreton, for a month before the near-miss incident.

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He was using a rock spike as a pilot hole to drive a fence post into the ground.

The dramatic events that follow on that day in June 2022 are captured in a video which shows a massive explosion and Elliott disappearing into the ground.

“The ground left me, we had gone through a gas pipeline,” he said.

Astonishingly, the footage rolls forward to show Elliott walking away from the scene unscathed.

“For a few seconds I simply thought that my time was up, and I was more than incredibly lucky to walk away with not so much as a scratch on me,” he said.

After he recovered from the initial shock, Elliot says his only thought was, “I don’t want anyone else going through this”.

Elliott has now joined forces with Linewatch and LinesearchbeforeUdig (LSBUD), a free online tool for checking the location of utilities, to front a video that encourages people working in industries including farming, fencing and construction to check for perils that might be lying beneath the ground.

“I want to make sure that anyone out there thinking of putting a hole in the ground, no matter if it is knocking in a fencing post, planting a tree, or taking on a major construction project, always search before they start working,” he said.

© LSBUD

Although Elliott’s experience is among the most dramatic, there are thought to be many near-misses every year, with a network of more than one million kilometres of underground pipes and cables running the length and breadth of the UK.

Richard Broome, managing director of LSBUD, said it is critical to understand that anyone can hit a pipe or cable.

“You can think you are working safely, but if you come into contact this could be something that will change you and your family’s lives forever,” he said.

Mr Broome urged people to use LSBUD to enhance their safety. 

“It only takes a couple of minutes to do that search before the job starts to keep you safe,” he said.

Linewatch also raises awareness of oil and gas pipelines around the UK, and encourages safe working practices when planning and digging around them.