Episode 7: The American Locator
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- Опубліковано 10 січ 2018
- Planet Underground TV's Episode 7 features three veteran locators working in St. Paul, MN. Xcel Energy's Frank Mariano is one of only several hundred utility-employed locators in the U.S. that are assigned to protect buried infrastructure in urban cores. Jon Moulton and Joshua Richard of Q3 Contracting team up to demonstrate the return on investment that professional locators give utility contractors as they work in older, crowded and challenging below ground environments.
In addition to featuring an article on these three men, our end-of-year accident review issue of American Locator features an array of utility damages that continue to impede the effectiveness of the American damage prevention system. American Locator magazine continues to expand its journalistic approach within an industry that is in need of accelerated change.
Hey everyone! We are happy to announce that we've just released our brand new online locator certification program. Go to www.locatorcertification.com for more information!
As a contract locator for 23 years gas scares me the most I literally will follow fire trucks if they are headed in a area of a trouble gas locate that I completed ..Locating looks so easy but when you do it day in and out it really stresses you out.. especially the ones of us who really care about damage prevention and public safety.
You have a email address?
I was a District Inspector ( markout man) for a large Massachusetts Gas utility for over a decade in the 90s. I always got the hit pipe call along with the service tech who responded. The fear of knowing that something i did was part of a boom, and I'm appart of that was terrible. Contractors trying to go quick and are careless. I had one explosion i was sent to and i had marked the house beside it. My heart was beating out of my chest. When i arrived and started walking to the house the firefighters said you'll love this. I knew then it wasn't my fault the homeowner of the house that had a little boom was at fault. He had a rodent problem and thought he could handle it. He poured gas down a rat holes in the backyard and vapors filled the basement. His wife was at the sink switched the garbage disposal on and blew the back wall off the house.
Wow!
AS a locator for almost 20 years i worked along side q-3 an they do GREAT WORK.
Fantastic video Mike.And yes I work with civil construction personnel at all levels who do not know how to read the existing visual services.Great idea that the Locator’s with field experience get together to share their knowledge with each other as well as educating civil staff at all levels.It’s about time that these managers listened to us Locator’s rather than TELLING US WHAT TO DO!Sometimes you need to threaten to withdraw your services to make them pay attention.
Brilliant video Mike, well done.
Production quality was superb, and story line was spot on, mate, you have really excelled on this one.
And of course, great video overall as well. I find it doesn't matter where in the world you are based, we are all going through the same things at the moment and dealing with the same issues that these guys are all facing everyday.
Keep up the great work!
To Jon moulton, good to see you still fighting the good fight. Bill Gordon retired.
Things are so different here on 2020!
I love USIc also I work for them
I feel like a hydrovac would have definitely been worth the costs versus the time on that apartment gas job.
Colorado passed new legislation May 25, 2018 that addresses service laterals. Here is the language from the law, please note facility owners and operators will not be liable if a damage is caused:(II) A SEWER SYSTEM OWNER OR OPERATOR SHALL PROVIDE ITS BEST AVAILABLE INFORMATION WHEN MARKING THE LOCATION OF SEWER LATERALS IN THE PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY WITH CLEARLY IDENTIFIABLE MARKINGS. "BEST AVAILABLE INFORMATION" INCLUDES TAP MEASUREMENTS AND HISTORIC RECORDS. IF THE SEWER LATERAL CAN BE ELECTRONICALLY LOCATED, THE SEWER SYSTEM OWNER OR OPERATOR SHALL MARK AND DOCUMENT THE LOCATION OF THE SEWER LATERALS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS SUBSECTION (4)(a). IF A SEWER SYSTEM OWNER OR OPERATOR OF A SEWER LATERAL CANNOT ELECTRONICALLY LOCATE THE SEWER LATERAL, THE EXCAVATOR SHALL FIND THE SEWER LATERAL.
(III) THE MARKING OF CUSTOMER-OWNED LATERALS IN THE PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND AN OWNER OR OPERATOR IS NOT LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR DAMAGES OR INJURIES RESULTING FROM DAMAGE DONE TO CUSTOMER-OWNED LATERALS.
In California there is one state-wide number and they mark everything. The only problem is their closed culture mentality. They will not accept input from me about where I put pipes in the ground around my house, they only want to hear from the utility. Well, a pipe is a pipe and if someone comes along later and digs up my hot tub line they are not going to be happy. Second problem is that they will not give me a map, they want to come out and mark the pavement. When I start to dig, all their markings go into the dumpster. Third problem is they do not pay attention to the request, I asked for information about the area around the power pole in the back yard and they came out and marked the street, 130 feet away. When I hand-dug around their markings I never found the phone line. It was later found 20 feet away.
Yep, it'd be nice if there was a provision to accept location info regarding private lines. We are not aware of any 1-call center in the U.S. that does this, though.
Mismarked lines are still way too common.....the problem seems to be getting worse, not better.
That number isn’t responsible for locating your private lines and that goes for everyone. You have to pay to have that located or put up paint yourself if you know where they are. Here in VA the company I work for sketches a quick map and that eliminates liability on our end.
811 doesn't mark anything, they just send the tickets to the utilities to mark, that's how it works. You're responsible for marking your own private lines, or paying someone to do it. Common sense, it's your property.
These locating companies are paid by utility companies or its the utility company marking there own stuff. Utility companies do not want to pay for YOUR private lines to be marked out. There are plenty of private locating companies you can pay to locate your private lines.