Surrey Safe for Diggers

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New analysis of Digging up Britain 2022 search data reveals that Surrey residents are the fourth safest diggers in the UK, being beaten to top spot by Nottinghamshire, London and Gloucestershire.  Devon rounded off the top five.

The study by the UK’s leading online safe digging resource, Line Search Before You Dig,  LSBUD, highlights the country’s safest and most dangerous digging hotspots as domestic digging continues to rise, by analysing how many residents are searching before they dig.

The UK’s Top Ten Digging Regions

  • Nottinghamshire
  • London
  • Gloucestershire
  • Surrey
  • Devon
  • Kent
  • Hampshire
  • Cornwall
  • Wiltshire
  • Oxfordshire

With Brits searching before undertaking 185,000 digging projects over the past 12 months, the scale and volume of at-home activity is clear to see. This is an all-time high and a 25 percent increase on the previous year.

It comes amidst a greater willingness to undertake home improvements post-COVID. According to Rated People, there was a 32 percent increase in demand for home improvements in 2021, with homeowners requiring more space to effectively live and work from the same property. Digging up Britain data mirrors this, with domestic works projects increasing by 83 percent.

The nature of these digging projects range from digging in trampolines, putting in new sheds and fixing fencing, through to drainage work, building conservatories, installing heat pumps and planting trees.

What the Experts Say

Richard Broome, MD at LSBUD, comments: “It is great to see the British public wanting to do more to their homes, and to see so many using the proper precautions to stay safe is heartening. With 84 percent of all digging projects now preceded by an underground search, it is clear that the safe digging message is getting through.

“However, there is still room for improvement. When the British public dig ‘blind’, with no prior knowledge of what is beneath them, there results can be significant. You are looking at serious injuries, expensive repairs, major disruptions and in the worst cases, fatalities.

“With this in mind, we urge people to always ‘search before you dig’. This is the message we want to get across as part of National Safe Digging Week, which starts on Monday 4th July.”

To learn more, please visit lsbud.co.uk/national-safe-digging-week, and to see LSBUD’s consumer-focused safe digging video, click here.

The UK’s Most Dangerous Digging Regions

  • Lincolnshire
  • Somerset
  • Herefordshire
  • Berkshire
  • Durham

Methodology

Data from LSBUD’s search portal, which recorded 3.4 million enquiries in 2021 was analysed. The data not only identifies the people responsible for each search, with ‘private individuals’ one of the selected groups, but also their location.

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