DIGSAFE®: WARN, DETECT, PROTECT
Polyfabrics’ DIGSAFE® product range provides customers with the unique advantage of sourcing a complete product solution for utility projects, from initial site set-up through to project completion. Dedicated to providing solutions that reduce maintenance costs and incidences of unintended pipelines strikes, the company has grown to be industry experts in excavation safety with a comprehensive suite of solutions available in Australasia.
Polyfabrics understands every dig-up presents a variety of excavation risks to both the excavation team onsite and the public, which is why it focuses on risk minimisation for every client. The company has assembled a comprehensive suite of innovative excavation safety solutions so utility and infrastructure owners can warn, detect, protect and manage buried assets using a combination of simple and smart technologies.
The DIGSAFE® range includes Overpipe® protection plates, which are 15 mm thick high-density polyethylene plates developed in France as an alternative to the 150-200 mm thick concrete slabs that were previously used as protection barriers for high pressure gas pipelines.
Due to increasing urban developments, sections of gas pipelines that were once beneath unoccupied land are now adjacent to existing infrastructure, with the costs of moving or relaying these pipelines extremely expensive for asset owners.
Instead, Overpipe has been designed to protect the pipelines in these situations, acting as an effective safety barrier due to its bright colour and tough durability. Its plastic composition means it does not degrade underground and can be easily removed or reused following pipeline repairs and inspections.
Another leading DIGSAFE® solution is the Copperhead® tracer wire system, used to locate buried plastic pipes or conduit by combining the conductivity of copper with the strength of stainless steel. This results in six times the tensile strength of the equivalent copper tracer wires developed for trenching, which are prone to breaking when used in trenchless installations.
The DIGSAFE® range also includes polymeric cable covers and Wavelay® detectable tapes, safety tapes, barrier fencing, and bespoke signage. Where possible, Polyfabrics uses recycled content to promote sustainable solutions for all major gas, telecommunications, power, and water utility providers across Australasia to increase pipeline safety and reduce risk.
Tapex Group of Companies
Polyfabrics is part of the Tapex Group of Companies, which provides world-class product solutions in agriculture, horticulture, civil and landscape construction as well as underground asset protection to resources and utilities markets across the Australasian region.
The Tapex group is an enterprising consortium of companies focusing on delivering leading product solutions and exceptional service to its customers, which Polyfabrics joined in 2015.
Since joining the group, Polyfabrics has leveraged the resources made available by the much larger entity to develop new concepts and work with its stakeholders in adapting its product ranges to better suit the changing climate conditions of the industry.
This article was featured in the October 2020 edition of The Australian Pipeliner. To view the magazine on your PC, Mac, tablet or mobile device, click here.
For more information visit the Polyfabrics website.
If you have news you would like featured in The Australian Pipeliner contact Managing Editor David Convery at dconvery@gs-press.com.au
