Page 3 - Alabama 811 Magazine 2021 Issue 3

from the desk of
Annette Bowman
Organized one call systems have been operating for more than 45 years across parts of the United States. Through partnerships with facility owners, excavators and one call
centers – now 811 notification centers – many strides have been made in improving damage prevention programs to
reduce the risk of damage to underground facilities. However, it is not a perfect program yet and those involved continue to
work to the vision of ZERO damages.
One of the continued challenges facing the excavating community and operating facilities is when an underground
facility is unlocatable. Why would this happen? The material of the underground facility may not be able to carry a signal for
detection, a tracer wire initially installed may have broken or a warning tape may have deteriorated, just to name a few. The industry has recognized this problem and new technologies are
being developed and used that have made a significant impact - but the work continues. Chris Thome with Rhino Marketing and Protection Systems, noted in an article that over “ten years ago, over half of all damages with a root cause of Locating Practices
Not Sufficient, were due to unlocatable facilities, making up over 10% of all reported damages. In the 2017 DIRT report, that number is only a fraction of what it once was”. This trend thankfully continues with the advances in tracer wire, ground penetrating radar and acoustic locating. The challenge is always having the time to use available technology within the timeframe allocated to have facilities marked before excavation is scheduled to begin.
Another area that can cause issues for locating facilities is that some buried facilities do not belong to the utility company. They may be private lines past the meter or belonging to the property owner. Most underground facility owners will not mark private lines because those lines are not on their records and drawings. This can cause confusion to those working around them or problems when determining who needs to repair them if damage should occur. There are private locating firms who can assist with this. A list of those who support Alabama 811 are listed on the Newsline page.
This edition of the Alabama 811 magazine will look further into these locating gaps and provide insight from industry experts on that is being done to improve.
Annette Bowman Executive Director Alabama 811
2021, Issue 3
Alabama 811 • 1