Underground Construction - July 2017 - 56

THE LAST WORD...
Rob Darden,
DCA executive
vice president,
joined the DCA
staﬀ in July
2009, bringing
more than 25
years of international meeting management
and association experience, most
recently as Executive Director of
QuEST Forum, an international
telecom association. Previously he
held executive positions with the
Young Presidents' Organization
and Spear One Productions. He
graduated from Louisiana State
University and is a member of the
American Society of Association
Executives (ASAE), Meeting Professionals International (MPI)
and has earned certifications as a
CMP (Certified Meeting Professional) and CAE (Certified Association Executive).

Concerns Remain About
"Gold Shovel Standard"

Eben Wyman,
DCA Washington representative, has worked
in Washington,
D.C. for 25
years, starting at
the U.S. DOT's
Oﬃce of Pipeline Safety, followed
by 12 years as vice president of
Government Relations for the
National Utility Contractors Association. In 2012, he founded E.
Wyman Associates LLC, which
represents several association
clients serving contractors, manufacturers and distributors operating in various segments of the
construction industry. Other clients include the Distribution Contractors Association, the Power
and Communication Contractors
Association and the Plastics Pipe
Institute.

ucononline.com

Members of the Distribution
Contractors Association (DCA)
continue to be forced to enroll in
the "Gold Shovel Standard" (GSS),
a certification and monitoring program conducted primarily in the
gas distribution industry. While
the goal of increased damage prevention is one that DCA members
have strived for long before GSS
was conceived, the association
remains skeptical that a new certification program is valuable unless
- and until - a workable metric is
established.
DCA appreciates the leadership
of Kevin Miller, president of Miller Pipeline, and past president of
DCA, for agreeing to serve on the
GSS board of directors at a time
when it clearly needs more contractor input.
"GSS has virtually gone back to
the drawing board, and the program needs a lot of work if GSS
is ever going to be workable for
gas distribution contractors," said
Rob Darden, DCA's executive vice
president. "Obviously, a lot more
contractor perspective is needed if
GSS is ever going to earn contractor buy-in, and we thank Kevin for
stepping up."
Some DCA members see possible merit to measuring performance if the scope is exclusive to a
local distribution company (LDC)
and its contractors. Virtually all
DCA members agree that the GSS
concept will not be workable if
approached from a national level,
and certainly not across multiple
markets. "A set of metrics applied
nationwide to a range of underground facilities is just not feasible," Darden added.
Following several meetings
over the past six months, DCA is
pleased that GSS leaders are beginning to respond to DCA's concerns.
On June 1, GSS reported that the
Metrics Committee, charged with
establishing "a series of measurements which Gold Shovel Standard
can adopt," is expected to present

Virtually all DCA
members agree that
the GSS concept will
not be workable if
approached from a
national level, and
certainly not across
multiple markets.
recommendations on metrics to
the GSS board of directors later
this year.
GSS also reported that the "Review Committee" concept has been
eliminated, meaning that GSS will
not review or evaluate damages
and, therefore, "avoid determining fault."
DCA is pleased that GSS now
understands that evaluating
damage data on a national level
to determine fault is not realistic.
However, such determinations
are needed in order to "measure"
any stakeholder performance. Any
implication of fault on a contractor
for damage resulting from an unmarked or mismarked facility will
not likely be considered an acceptable metric, and certainly won't
generate "buy-in" from an already
skeptical contractor community.
DCA appreciates that GSS is
now assembling a committee to
prepare a certification process for
owners, operators and the locate
companies that work for them.
LDCs, locators and gas distribution excavators would have to be
certified, measured and evaluated
on the same level, and subject to
the same requirements and metrics, for this program to be fair and
transparent, as promised by GSS.
While there are still many doubts

about the feasibility of this approach, given the needed commitment required by all stakeholders,
DCA believes that more contractor
input can only help improve the
current situation.
"If GSS is truly committed to
an approach to damage prevention that evaluates and measures
operators and their locators under
the same criteria and requirements
as apply to contractors, then that
would reflect a sense of shared
responsibility in damage prevention," said Eben Wyman, DCA's
Washington D.C. representative.
"Of course, the Common Ground
Alliance has set the table on this
concept for 17 years, which begs
the question: is there really a need
for a new damage prevention program?"
DCA continues to encourage
its members to opt-out of reporting damages to GSS, as currently
allowed by GSS program leaders,
unless and until a workable metric
is established. In addition, DCA
will continue to encourage GSS to
suspend the aggressive solicitation
of LDCs and compelled participation by gas distribution contractors until that metric is developed
and agreed to by the contractors.
Until then, the "buy-in" sought
by GSS leaders will continue to be
challenging.
About the DCA: The Distribution
Contractors Association represents
contractors, suppliers and manufacturers who provide distribution construction services including installation, replacement and rehabilitation
of gas pipelines and fiber optic, cable
and duct systems in communities
across the country.
EDITOR'S NOTE: At the recent
DCA/American Gas Association annual workshop last April, there was
a panel discussion regarding the Golf
Shovel Standard. That discussion is
included in our report on that workshop in this issue. See page 15.
Underground Construction July 2017

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Underground Construction - July 2017

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