Page 3 - Alabama 811 Magazine 2021 Issue 1

from the desk of
Annette Bowman
•
Due to pending legislative changes becoming effective January 1, 2020, we expected it to be a unique year. However, we did not expect the extra challenges presented in maintaining a business
during a worldwide pandemic.
Beginning the first of the year, the following legislative changes took place:
• “Life of a locate request” changed from 10 working days to 20 working days
Two working day notice begin start of next business day
There were two trends identified as a result of these legislative changes. With the change in the life of a locate request extended to 20 working days,
it allowed an excavator to work under a valid locate request for a longer period of time before a new locate request number needed to be initiated. As
a result of this, Alabama 811 saw a reduction of approximately 50%+ in the number of “update” locate request for 2020 as compared to the previous year. Also, with the two working day notice change that no longer included the day of notification and the “clock”
set to begin the start of the next business, we saw the trend change of when the bulk of locate requests were being processed. The trend has moved from the early morning hours during the first of the week to more mid-week and mid-day. This has resulted in altering staffing hours to accommodate the inbound volume.
For the year 2020, our locate request volume was only down approximately 8% even with the higher reduction in updated requests. We did see a continued growth in professional excavator activity, but also saw an increase in the number of locate requests by homeowners as compared to the year before. Much of this is due to the increased home improvement store patronage with more people working from and staying home due to the pandemic recommendations.
The new enforcement entity, Alabama Underground Damage Prevention Authority was formalized
during 2020 with appointment of Authority members, development of administrative procedures, and establishment of a website (www.alupda.org). Alabama 811 has worked closely with the Authority in assisting with its formation as well as education of the damage prevention and enforcement processes.
Enacted legislative changes will continue into 2021, with the bulk of underground facility owners joining Alabama 811 to comply with the requirements for all underground facility owners to be a member by January 2022. In addition, the requirement on facility owners to provide a positive response back to the excavator was enacted as of January 1, 2021.
Alabama 811 continues to work with all stakeholders to ensure a strong and effective damage prevention program. As new law changes are enacted, we are dedicated to helping those impacted by these changes to be aware and educated to keep Alabama safe. As always, we thank our membership and the excavating community for making safety a top priority and always contacting 811 before all excavation projects.
Annette Bowman Executive Director Alabama 811
2021, Issue 1 Alabama 811 • 1