Underground Infrastructure - June 2023 - 14

Inside Infrastructure
In the midst of wildfires, there was an incident in Boulder
County (Colorado) where 6,000 acres burned in less than 24
hours, destroying 1,100 structures and cutting gas service for
13,000 customers. The operator was able to respond very quickly,
providing 10,000 free space heaters and a dedicated 'hot line'
to communicate with customers. Main and service lines were
replaced, and door-to-door relights were provided with ample
support from utility partners and a wide range of contractors.
The mutual-aid process worked very well, with details of
needed resources, logistics and clear descriptions of protocols/procedures
provided to all involved. One key point
made is the need to infuse emergency management into the
fabric of the effort, with attention paid to environmental protections,
strong preparation (educate, train, drill), and a concerted
effort to drive collaboration. Solid procedures must be
developed and checked regularly.
Damage Prevention Institute (DPI)
The second day of the workshop began with a presentation on
the Common Ground Alliance's (CGA) Damage Prevention
Institute (DPI), which was designed to merge the efforts of
CGA and the Gold Shovel Association (GSA) into a metrics-focused,
peer-reviewed model of shared accountability
that serves all stakeholders. DPI is looking to provide systematic
approaches to damage prevention, using CGA best practices,
data from CGA's DIRT program, root causes of damages
and some previous work of GSA.
According to DPI, the majority of damages (75 percent)
are attributed to six root causes. These have been consolidated
into a few critical issues that are now the primary focus at CGA,
including effective use of 811, problems with responses to locate
requests (failure to mark/mismarks), failure to pothole,
etc. Excavators say that locating issues are the leading challenges
and report downtime regularly because of these problems.
DPI believes there are opportunities in areas such as electronic
white lining and increased utilization of geographic information
systems (GIS). GIS offers one of the best mapping
technologies available, and security/privacy concerns can and
are being addressed in certain parts of the country.
CGA's Next Practices effort is taking a hard look at a pilot
program in Minnesota, where GIS data is stored by the 811
center and stakeholders (contractors, locators) are allowed access
to that information for only a limited amount of time (life
of the 811 ticket). Who is provided access to what GIS data and
for how long is completely controlled by the facility operator.
Participation in DPI is completely voluntary, but participants
will have to demonstrate accreditation and transparency.
Importantly, DPI is not punitive, and success will depend
on the data provided and participation by a balanced number
of key stakeholders. Initial metrics being evaluated include
mapping quality, time taken to update maps and damages per
certain number of manhours (for both contractors and locators).
Peer reviews, while still under development, will be a
critical part of measuring performance.
A Change Is Coming...
Broader Focus.
Greater Appeal.
STAY TUNED!
Leadership, innovation in damage prevention
Workshop participants heard from the city of Chicago, which
operates a separate 811 system from the state of Illinois with
unique characteristics that have resulted in superior operation
and successful damage prevention. This presentation explored
how GIS and global positioning system tools factor into the
city's system management and how data tracking and monitoring
efforts drive both management and damage prevention
performance of the 811 system.
Chicago has an enormous public right-of-way (ROW),
and there is significant construction going on right now.
Information was presented on locate requests, hit ratios and
data transmissions, and issues related to workflow, project
coordination and excavation review. Interaction with project
owners and other stakeholders is critical because city permits
are not given a green light in a public ROW without a plan
approved by the city.
Approved excavators have access to all needed data. This
seems rudimentary, but lack of accurate mapping and facility
location information is an enduring problem for the excavation
community. Chicago oversees an evaluation panel that
reviews damage investigations, where success is based on
14 JUNE 2023 | UndergroundInfrastructure.com
http://www.UndergroundInfrastructure.com
Underground Infrastructure - June 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Infrastructure - June 2023
