“

Pavement explosions are relatively rare, but when they

do occur the consequences can

be very serious”

Safety Executive (HSE), which show that there were 199 incidents where link boxes or cable pits failed – the prime cause of most pavement explosions between February 2010 and February 2015.

Of these incidents, 77 were deemed to be ‘disruptive’, which is described by the HSE as ‘involving fire, explosion and/or the involvement of the fire service’.

This is the equivalent of more than one disruptive incident every month over the five-year period.