Page 9 - Arkansas 811 Magazine 2022 Issue 3

conduct root cause analysis, and ultimately support building a culture that embraces damage prevention.
Recommendation – Third-Party Enforcement Board: Develop or enhance 3rd party investigation and enforcement board, with a balanced number of representatives from each stakeholder group, imbued with both responsibility and authority to manage the entire damage adjudication process.
Solution Summary – The principal purpose of the Idaho Damage Prevention Board...is to reduce
damages to underground facilities and to promote safe excavation practices through education directed toward excavators, underground facility owners, and the public at large. The board
also shall review complaints of alleged violations. It shall be the responsibility and duty of the administrator to administer the requirements of the law, and the administrator shall exercise such powers and duties as are reasonably necessary to enforce the provisions of the law.
Solution Reference – State of Idaho Title 55 - Property in General, Chapter 22 - Underground Facilities Damage Prevention, Parts 2201 & 2203. (See also Tennessee Code Title 65, Chapter 31, Part 114, 115, 116 & 117) (see also North Carolina Code §87.129)
Standardize Minimum Notification Time
Tactical / Process Issue Addressed
– Process - Lack of standardization among states in notification time introduces inconsistency and inefficiency in the locate process and reduces the effectiveness of education and outreach efforts to stakeholders. Structure system to support continuous improvement efforts through collection of data to identify trends, conduct root cause analysis, and ultimately support building a culture that embraces damage prevention.
Recommendation – Standardize Minimum Notification Time: Standardize the ticket notification time to a minimum of two full business days after the day/date of a call.
Solution Summary – An excavator... shall notify the One-Call center of the intent to engage in any excavation or demolition not less than three business days before beginning the excavation or demolition, and not
more than 10 business days prior to beginning the excavation or demolition. If the excavation or demolition is not commenced within 10 business days... The notice shall no longer be valid. or... an excavator planning to conduct an excavation shall notify the appropriate regional notification center of the excavator’s intent to excavate at least two working days... before beginning that excavation. The date of the notification shall not count as part of the two-working-day notice.
Solution Reference – New Jersey Administrative Code §14:2 - 3.1 Notice of Intent to Excavate – Timing or California Code 4216.2(b).
Effective Metrics
Tactical / Process Issue Addressed –
Tactical: Lack of consistent and critical data for the development of continuous improvement efforts designed to change future behaviors and build a culture that embraces damage prevention.
Recommendation – Effective Metrics: Identify, develop, collect, and track metrics that effectively support trending and continuous improvement of the state damage prevention performance.
Solution Summary – The most widely recognized metric is total number of damages per 1000 tickets. This should be further refined to - total number of damages per 1000 transmissions, or outgoing tickets. It should be noted that there are several factors in the locate notification process that vary from state to state that make this metric unpredictable. National standardization of the notification process would potentially transform the industry through the direct result of stable data (see Standardize Ticket Size, Distance, Duration, and Life Recommendation). States that choose not to standardize would require substantial additional analysis in order to develop normalized metrics to support state-to-state and year-to-year analysis. Additional metrics include, but are not limited to:
• # of damages per construction spend or more specifically utility construction spend (normalization)
• # of damages per customer served (normalization)
• # of damages per state population (normalization)
• the trending of damages against GDP growth
• the trending of damages against urban density or state average density
Solution Reference – North Carolina approach to data requirements, tracking, and analysis.
Annual Reporting to CGA and DIRT
Tactical / Process Issue Addressed – Tactical: Lack of formal requirement to consistently report state performance data to Common Ground Alliance. Structure a system to support continuous improvement efforts through collection of data to identify trends, conduct root cause analysis, and ultimately support building a culture that embraces damage prevention.
Recommendation – Annual Reporting to CGA and DIRT: Require state entity(s) responsible for the oversight of the 811 system and collection and adjudication of compliance or damage reports, ticket volumes, etc. to submit data to the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) in support of the annual DIRT report.
Solution Summary – The Common Ground Alliance (CGA) is established and nationally recognized as the industry standard for continuous improvement and industry best practices specific to damage prevention. CGA’s focus is solely on damage prevention and the update
or development of best management practices along with the publication of the annual DIRT report highlighting state-by-state damage prevention performance.
Solution Reference – www. commongroundalliance.com
Standardize Ticket Size, Distance, Duration, and Life
Tactical / Process Issue Addressed – Tactical: Lack of consistent and ongoing improvements to various processes that support a high- functioning damage prevention program.
Recommendation – Standardize Ticket Size, Distance, Duration, and Life: Standardize the ticket size, distance, duration, and life to the described characteristics. A national standard supports and vastly improves efficiency throughout the utility locate and damage prevention process.
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2022, Issue 3 Arkansas 811 Magazine • 7