Page 10 - West Virgina 811 Magazine 2022 Issue 3

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a. Develop and track metrics that support behavioral change in ad- dition to metrics designed to track violations of the law.
5. Annual Reporting to CGA and DIRT: Require state entity(s) respon- sible for the oversight of the 811 sys- tem and collection and adjudication of compliance or damage reports, ticket volumes, etc. to submit data to the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) to support the preparation of the annual DIRT report.
6. Standardize Ticket Size - Dis- tance, Duration, and Life: Standard- ize the ticket size, distance, duration, and life to the described characteris- tics.
As previously noted, the 2019 West Virginia estimated total damage cost is approximately $75 million in annu- al and out-of-pocket cost to the sys- tem with an additional largely invisi- ble $220 million in waste, inefficiency, and excess cost embedded in the system. The six recommendations proposed, will eliminate $200 million of these damage and waste costs over a 3-5-year timeline and these benefits exceed the implementation cost of $21 million by a factor of 10x over the 3-5-year implementation timeline.
Recommendation Detail
To support investigation and potential implementation of the identified rec- ommendation, the following additional information is provided for research and discussion purposes and includes the following:
• Tactical / Process Issue Addressed: A description of the tactical activity or process breakdown and inefficien- cy identified.
• Recommendation: Summary description of the proposed recom- mendation.
• Solution Summary: A descrip- tion of the condition, characteristic, practice, process, or law that was identified as high functioning in an- other state and is a starting point for research and discussion purposes.
• Solution Reference: A description of where or how to access additional information about the condition, characteristic, practice, process, or law that was identified as high func- tioning in another state.
No Exemptions
Tactical / Process Issue Addressed – Tactical: Reduce the potential for dam- age to assets of utility companies that are not required to participate in 811.
Recommendation – No Exemptions: Require all asset owners and operators, including municipalities and DOT, to join and participate in the 811 system.
Solution Summary – Delaware de- fines “Operator” as...any person who furnishes or transports materials or services by means of a utility line. It shall be the duty of each operator...to participate in the approved notification center. § 808 exempts only any excava- tion or demolition done by the owner of a private residence when such excava- tion or demolition is made entirely on the land on which the private residence is situated and provided there is no encroachment on any operator’s rights- of-way or easement.
Solution Reference – State of Delaware Title 26 - Public Utilities, Chapter 8 - Underground Utility Damage Preven- tion and Safety, Subchapter I - Under- ground Utility Damage Prevention
and Safety Act, § 802, 803, 804, 807 & 808. (see also Tennessee Code Title 65, Chapter 31, Part 107)
Mandatory Damage Reporting
Tactical / Process Issue Addressed
– Process: Hold responsible parties ac- countable for damages and cause them to change future behavior. Structure system to support continuous improve- ment efforts through collection of data to identify trends, conduct root cause analysis, and ultimately support build- ing a culture that embraces damage prevention.
Recommendation – Mandatory Dam- age Reporting: Refine the dig law to require reporting of all damages (not necessarily investigation into all dam- ages) to support more effective damage adjudication and enforcement. Solution Summary – New Hampshire law states...each operator shall file monthly, with the commission, on or before the 15th day of the following month, probable violations of PUC 800, damages to underground facilities, or both. Excavators are required to notify 811 of any damage as well as...report the damage within 72 hours, excluding weekends and holidays, to the commis- sion.
Solution Reference – New Hamp- shire Code of Administrative Rules, Chapter PUC 800 - Underground Utility Damage Prevention Program, parts 802, 804 & 805
Standardize Minimum Notification Time
Tactical / Process Issue Addressed-
Process - Lack of standardization among states in notification time introduces inconsistency and inef- ficiency in the locate process and reduces the effectiveness of education and outreach efforts to stakeholders. Structure system to support contin- uous 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: Stan- dardize 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 excava- tion 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 demoli- tion. 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 No- tice 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.
8 • West Virginia 811 2022, Issue 3