Before You Dig Australia
Lodge the enquiry. Read what comes back. Identify what the plans do not cover. Verify in the field.
BYDA is Before You Dig Australia. It is the enquiry you lodge before you disturb the ground. It is not a clearance to dig, and the plans it returns are not a complete picture of what is in the ground.
Lodge
The enquiry goes in before machines, before a shovel, before a post hole. It tells network operators you intend to disturb a place. What you get back is what they have on file for that place.
Review
Plans, conditions, and “no record” replies. Read all of it. A “no record” is not an empty street. It is an operator saying they have nothing to send you.
Identify the gaps
The useful part — the part a returned PDF will not say — is why those plans are frequently incomplete. Assets went in before record-keeping was a job. As-builts often record the intended run, not the finished one. Private assets, on-site treatment lines, abandoned plant, and anything the current operator never inherited will not be on the response. If you design or dig as if the pack is complete, you are treating QL-D as QL-A.
Field verification
What the plans do not cover has to be found, not assumed. Detection across the corridor, and exposure at every point you intend to break ground, is how a project moves from a BYDA pack to a picture you can work from. The model on this site is an illustration of that picture. It is not a substitute for lodging the enquiry.
Free tools
All free, all from Before You Dig Australia. Links open the official sites in a new tab.
- BYDA app. Lodge the enquiry and get the plans back on your phone, including on site. App Store · Google Play · Lodge online
- Look Up and Live. A map of overhead powerlines, their voltage and who owns them. Check it before tipping, lifting or moving a tall load. Coverage is still limited in WA, the NT and Tasmania. Open the map · App Store · Google Play
- BYDA awareness session. Free online or face-to-face sessions from BYDA's damage prevention officers, covering safe excavation and reading utility plans. Recommended for any business with a crew that digs. Book a free session