An underground cable protection system prolongs the effort required to remove or expose a cable, increasing the risk for thieves of being caught, says underground cable protection company Cable Croc lead designer Lex Harvey.

The Cable Croc system, tested by industry body the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, using a 12 t, 75 kw 4 × 4 tractor, recorded a pulling force of 5.9 t at a 45° reverse angle pull, which could not move the cable.

Similarly, a 9 t ‘snap’ pull did not dislodge the cable. The cable also withstood a 5.9 t longi- tudinal pull and a vertical lift could not uproot the cable. This test was conducted on a 185 × 4 core cable. Similar pulling tests were conducted on a 25 × 4 core cable, which recorded similar results.

The system firmly latches the cable to ground anchors using stainless-steel nonremovable bolt and nut assemblies. Ground anchors are randomly spaced in a trench excavated to site engineers’ specifications and concreted in position.

According to the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, cable theft costs the South African economy more than R5-billion a year. Copper theft for November 2012 was pegged at R 12.2-million, while December theft was pegged at R12.4-million.

Copper cable worth R11,1-million was stolen in Janaury.

“The system can also be linked to an alarm, which alerts a security guard or sends a signal to a control room,” says Harvey.

Where cable is exposed above ground level, a thick-walled, seamless, hot-dipped galvan- ised mild steel pipe in a lobster back configur- ation, or a close-coiled 5-mm-diameter wire stainless steel spring, is used to protect the exposed cable.

Both options have fittings which interface with the anchors in the ground, as well as points where cables enter or exit switchgear enclos-ures. Once the trench has been backfilled and compacted, the cable cannot be removed.

Cable Croc electrical/technical assistant Martin Labotski provides installation infor-mation and expertise and trains staff to lay the Cable Croc system.

“In the event of maintenance work, the affected anchors in the suspect area can be exposed, cable attended to and, at minimal labour and material cost, the cable can be repaired. Similarly, should an existing cable be required to be protected, ground anchors and cable-latching devices can be installed.