Vulcan Utility Signs attended the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) conference in Orlando from October 12th through the 15th. A central focus of the CGA is to coordinate the efforts of all stakeholders in the 811 process, which includes the line owners (Oil & Gas, Telecom, Water, Electric providers etc.), the excavators and those individuals seeking to do work on their property.
To enhance the 811 process the CGA formed what can be called a best practices committee to work on solutions to improve in the area of damage prevention.
A study of the current issues led the committee to determine that:
- The industry is losing ground on damage prevention because there is too much noise in the system making 811 system difficult and non-responsive.
- The 811 system has become cumbersome to use.
- Locators, line owners and excavators need to come together to get better results, and this was the goal of the committee.
- Timeliness of locating and accuracy of location is critical.
The takeaway from the committee was that the most critical factor in improving the system is for the line owner to share mapping information that’s accurate so line locators can locate successfully, and excavators can be certain of where to and where not to dig. Mapping will take guesswork out of locating to ensure safety and improve efficiency for the locator. With more movement to bury all forms of transmission underground it makes this even more important.
We met with a number of prospects from different markets such as Telecom / Fiber, Water, Electric and even locators that have use for our marking products such as Flags, Bullet Markers, our 2L20 Line Locate marker, and of course Aluminum signs and HDPE signs. Once a line is located, we can supply the right product to ensure the excavator is digging in the right area.
Our specialty is just as our tag line states, “We Mark It To Protect It.”