Underground Infrastructure - August 2023 - 6

EDITOR'SLOG
Priceless: Safety & Damage Prevention
Robert Carpenter | Editor-in-Chief
After attending and helping produce countless
trade shows, workshops and related
educational functions over the decades, I've
learned that many of the best sessions were
not the most popular sessions - not by a
long shot. It's not always what you want to
hear, but what you need to know that has
the most impact on your business or job.
Increasingly in the underground infrastructure business, the
recognition by various parties about the extreme importance
of safety and damage prevention continues to climb. For contractors,
the impacts are obvious - prevent accidents, and the
cost of doing business drops like a rock. Not only the direct
monetary costs, but more significantly, the cost in human lives
and suffering from not only major injuries, but how the fallout
negatively impacts families.
Making operations safer and less damage prone also creates
a positive, significant ripple effect that has tremendous economic
consequences ranging from improved relationships with
OSHA (and avoiding fines and penalties), to seeing your insurance
factor decrease (more money saved), to avoiding lawsuits.
All this also makes a contractor a much more desirable partner
for owning companies; weighing a company based on safety
factors can sway bids.
Many industry groups actively stress safety through various
programs but these groups historically and actively practice
what they preach. The Distribution Contractors Association,
American Pipeline Contractors Association, Pipe Line
Contractors Association, Power & Communication Contractors
Association, and the Pipe Line Contractors Association of
Canada have all stood out with their innovative safety programs
throughout their storied history.
The Common Ground Alliance is the leader in damage prevention,
and it too has brought much needed attention and programs
to that subject, such as the Call Before You Dig/Call 811
- Know What's Below programs.
Recently, two other associations have increased their safety
focus, as well. The National Association of Sewer Service
Contractors (representing the trenchless rehabilitation industry)
has upped its already respectable safety programs by hiring
Dennis Piven as its health, safety and environmental consultant.
A 19-year veteran at Aegion, Piven has been a highly active health
and safety industry participant and a published author on the subject.
This hire by NASSCO clearly demonstrates a strong commitment
to the human side of the sewer and water rehab industry.
As part of the NASSCO safety focus, Piven will present a fourhour
workshop at the Underground Infrastructure Conference
on Confined Space Awareness, including hands-on training.
Also, Piven will team up with industry veterans Harry Miller of
6 AUGUST 2023 | UndergroundInfrastructure.com
SAK and Lynn Osborn (former senior engineer for Insituform)
on a contractors panel to discuss challenges, misconceptions
and effective implementation of key safety measures for sewer
and water contractors.
The information is limitless, the stories to be shared are riveting
and lessons learned will be powerful.
Also, in the safety suite of topics, Dr. John Matthews, director
of the Trenchless Technology Center at Louisiana Tech
will present information from recent studies of styrene on the
worksite. The presentation, titled " Attacks on CIPP Emissions:
What Research Has Learned " will discuss the findings and recommendations
from those studies.
In a separate underground market, a new industry association
has included safety and damage prevention as one of its founding
tenants. The Horizonal Directional Drilling Association
was formally introduced to industry last February at UCT in
Orlando and, as the association's officers and board members
stressed, improving the HDD industry through safety and education
is a paramount mission for the group. HDDA held its
first educational workshop last May in the Dallas area and true
to its word, had a veteran safety and damage prevention expert
provide a critical presentation.
HDDA will conduct a second event in Houston Sept. 19-20.
This complementary training will focus on navigation and utility
locating for rigs, small to large.
The event will push the overarching importance of always
knowing what obstacles or potential problems may exist before,
during and even after the bore. No matter the size of your rig,
from mini to maxi, the financial impact of executing tracking and
utility locating properly cannot be overlooked and the potential
for injury or severe damages cannot be understated.
The training event will also involve a presentation from locating
firm USIC about its dedicated technician program. Recently,
I witnessed this program first hand in my neighborhood. Xfinity
(Comcast) was installing a new fiber optic system throughout
the area. At one point, I counted five directional rigs at work installing
fiber. Joining the crews were USIC techs staying in front
of the work, confirming marks and verifying locates so the contractors
could work at full speed.
HDDA has plans to continue holding educational workshops
and organizers have pledged that safety and damage prevention
will always be an essential focus - it's just too important
not to be emphasized.
For the good contractors - quality contractors - they understand
there is never a short-cut to safety and damage prevention
on the worksite. Clearly, there are ample opportunities continuing
to emerge for contractors in all fields of underground infrastructure
to stay updated on best practices. Your employees'
families are counting on you. UI
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Underground Infrastructure - August 2023

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