The Excavation Compliance Paradox: Why "Following Procedure" Still Leads to Failure

Across the gas sector, recent events have shown a consistent pattern:

• Work was ticketed

• Crews were dispatched

• Assets were isolated

• Procedures were followed

And yet, catastrophic outcomes still occurred.

Why? Because risk existed outside the field of view of traditional controls.

The invisible risk between the map and the ground

Gas networks operate in environments where:

Excavators file tickets for large dig polygon – dig area – sometimes extremely large (even the size of a small city)

• A ticket is a statement of intent, not a real-time feed of activity

• Asset records can be incomplete or historically inconsistent

• Gas often migrates through soil beyond visible excavation boundaries

• Third-party activity evolves faster than inspection cycles

“Shut off” does not equate to “risk neutralized”

In these conditions, conventional safeguards — tickets, locates, site attendance, gas detection — operate locally and reactively.

Satellite-enhanced excavation intelligence

KartaSoft introduces a fundamentally different model for excavation safety built on risk surfaces.

1. Network-scale risk context (before the ticket)

Rather than treating each dig as an isolated event, KartaSoft models excavation risk across the entire network, accounting for:

• Asset criticality and failure consequence

• Historical disturbance patterns

• Ground conditions and gas migration behaviour

• Repeated third-party interaction zones

This allows operators to identify high-exposure corridors weeks or months before excavation activity peaks.

2. Satellite-derived intelligence: seeing what field data can’t

Satellite data is used to observe behaviour and change at scale, including:

• Progressive surface disturbance

• Encroachment trends near buried assets

• Early indicators of unplanned or informal excavation activity

When fused with physics-informed models, this enables prioritized intervention.

3. Risk surfaces, not binary decisions

KartaSoft answers an operationally useful question:

“How much risk is accumulating here, and why?”

Each excavation is placed on a dynamic risk surface that reflects:

• Likelihood of escalation

• Interaction with nearby assets

• Sensitivity to additional disturbance

This supports graduated controls:

• Enhanced supervision

• Modified excavation methods

• Pre-emptive isolation strategies

• Deferred works when systemic risk is elevated

4. Governance for moments that matter

In recent events across the industry, investigations consistently focus on one issue:

“Based on what was known at the time, were the decisions reasonable?”

KartaSoft is designed to support this, where recommendations are:

• Scientifically grounded

• Traceable to network-level conditions

• Defensible to regulators, boards, and the public

This helps operators prove that risk was understood, contextualized, and governed.

Why this matters now

Gas operators are facing a structural shift:

• Higher excavation density

• Aging infrastructure under modern land use

• Reduced tolerance for “unforeseeable” outcomes

KartaSoft enables operators to move from:

• Compliance → Risk intelligence advantage

• Local visibility → Systemic awareness

• Reaction → Justified, early intervention