Archives
The Summit: Creating the environment for working together in Texas
Water, gas, electricity, and telecommunications are vital to our everyday lives. Protecting the underground facilities that ensure we have these resources is our shared responsibility. This past August more than 30 stakeholders from all corners of Texas convened in the Texas 811 multipurpose room to talk about how best to bring utilities owner/operators, contractors, locators, and other stakeholders together in an environment that would be recognized as fair and impartial to all parties.
Are design engineers being ignored by the one call system?
Many firms across the state engaged in design work will be quick to tell you the one call process isn’t working for them. Dennis Carrigan, a Principal with G. E. Walker and Associates in Waco felt so strongly about the issue that he wrote a letter to Lee Marrs, President of Texas 811. His letter stated, “Recently, it has become our experience that utility locating companies are not willing to locate important utilities during the surveying phase. Instead, the companies prefer to wait until the construction staking phase of the project to locate the underground utilities. If a narrow interpretation of the legislation that created ‘one call’ is ‘only for imminent construction,’ then it would be difficult for me to believe that was the intent. The result of this interpretation is the creation of another ‘layer’ of locators to serve the design and surveying industry. Locating utilities during the surveying phase of a design project is of utmost importance when deciding where to place infrastructure, building, etc. Please contact me at your convenience to discuss these concerns. We look forward to speaking with you.”
Contractor’s Perspective: A day in the life of Gilbert Hill
The ringing of the phone interrupted Gilbert as he was making his point. Gilbert’s phone ringing is a normal part of his day. Every call is important, some more than others. He looked at me and pointed his finger in the air and said, “Excuse me for just a moment.” Gilbert Hill has worked for [...]
Knowing what’s below saves time and money
by Patrick Vai Surveying And Mapping, Inc. (SAM, Inc.) With the constantly increasing need for both urban and rural expansion seen across the country, new construction projects of all sizes are being designed and executed. To help keep these projects from running into very time consuming and expensive problems during their construction phases, subsurface utility [...]
Trenching and excavation safety: Soil Classification
Sadly, as many as 400 workers are killed and several thousand workers are seriously injured in trenches and excavations across the U.S. each year. One reason: Many people forget the weight of soil. The Facts: One cubic foot of soil weighs between 90 and 140 pounds. A cubic yard of soil can weigh almost 4,000 [...]
Me and Dillard, Volume 2, Issue 3
It was the fall of 1957. Armadillos had not yet invaded southwest Arkansas. It was Saturday, and all was right with my world. This was one of the weekends I could go visit my friend Dillard. I loved walking through the woods to his house. It was an adventure every time. I ran across the [...]
Damage prevention from a local perspective: Permian Basin
by Jim Bob Sims Damage Prevention Manager, Texas811 The Permian Basin Damage Prevention Council (PBDPC) held their most recent meeting Wednesday, December 9, 2009, at the offices of Atmos Energy in Midland, Texas. The council, in the spirit of the season decided to help out with a local charity. It was decided to support the [...]
Perception is reality
As a young man, when frequenting the barber shop, I always asked the barber to “thin it.” I had a full bushy head of curly-wavy hair that consistently required being thinned. I tell folks that God must have heard me and permanently thinned it as you can see by looking at the caricature that Randy [...]
Gas Distribution Integrity Management
I wrote about proposed new rules affecting more than two million miles of natural gas distribution systems that directly serve homes, schools, and businesses that were expected “late summer.” This year, late summer came December 4th (Don’t ask!). See Docket No. PHMSA-RSPA-2004-19854 found at www.regulations.gov for the 32 page announcement of the “Final Rule” in the Federal Register. PHMSA received 143 letters commenting on the proposed rule: 12 from national and regional trade associations (including the National Association of State Pipeline Representatives [NAPSR]); 107 from municipal and non-municipal distribution system operators; 15 from state pipeline safety agencies; and 9 from other stakeholders. As with almost every Federal Final Rule, the preamble contains a detailed discussion of every comment and how the Final Rule changed (if it changes) as compared to the proposed rule. The following is a very brief summary of the changes by Topic as numbered in the Notice of Final Rulemaking:
Leadership impacts safety
The superintendent stated, “The corporate office believes we’re hiring the wrong person because our accident rate is so high on this job!” The prevailing notion, at one time, was to hire the “safe personality type.” That notion has died a slow death. Today, the focus is on the impact that leadership has upon the safety [...]
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