Page 7 - West Virgina 811 Magazine 2022 Issue 3

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Quartile for two characteristics, the 3rd Quartile for one char- 9 acteristic, the 2nd Quartile for five characteristics, and the 1st
Quartile for no characteristics.
The 2019 estimated total damage cost in West Virginia is
approximately $75 million in annual and out-of-pocket cost to the system. In addition to this observable cost is an invisible cost originating from the following:
1) daily unneeded locate requests;
2) 5% in locators wasted time due to poor instructions;
3) an additional 9% in locator wasted time due to de- stroyed marks; and
4) 10% in daily contractor wasted time waiting for asset owner compliance with locate request or taking “defensive excavation” practices at additional cost and lost productiv- ity in an attempt to avoid unlocated facilities.
These costs amount to an additional $220 million in waste, in- efficiency, and excess cost that is embedded in the system and largely invisible. Regardless of where or from whom these costs originate, they migrate over a 3-5-year timeline toward the most professional contractors and locators, and by default to their utility customers who are primarily the highly regu- lated electric and gas utilities and ultimately their ratepayers. Once known and visible, these costs can be eliminated and mitigated.
The six recommendations proposed, will eliminate $200 million of these costs over a 3-5-year timeline and while
there are implementation expenditures associated with these recommendations, the gain achieved outweighs the cost by
a factor of 10x over the 3-5-year implementation timeline. These savings represent both damage frequency and waste embedded in the system. Severe damage reduction and public safety or societal benefits are not calculated and are on top of these figures.
Ultimately, it is possible to drive out waste, inefficiency, and excess cost from the damage prevention and utility locate pro- cess while improving public safety and lowering the total cost to ratepayers, asset owners, and operators (utilities, Depart- ment of Transportation, and municipalities.)
West Virginia Recommendations
Overall, West Virginia achieves adequate performance as measured by PHMSA, CGA’s DIRT Report, IPC, and stake- holders. There are weaknesses or gaps in the West Virginia dig law as well as the processes and practices. Opportunities for further improvement include the following:
1. No Exemptions: Require all asset owners and operators, including municipalities and the Department of Transporta- tion (DOT), to join and participate in the 811 system.
2. Mandatory Damage Reporting: Refine the dig law to require reporting of all damages (not necessarily investi- gation into all damages) to support more effective damage adjudication and enforcement.
3. Standardize Minimum Notification Time: Standardize the ticket notification time to a minimum of two full busi- ness days after the day/date of a call.
4. Effective Metrics: Identity, develop, collect, and track metrics that effectively support trending and continuous improvement of the state damage prevention performance. Mandatory reporting is necessary to accomplish this effort.
UTILITY & PIPELINE LOCATOR TRAINING
FULL OSHA CONSTRUCTION LIBRARY
EXCAVATION SAFETY TRAINING
UTA DISTANCE LEARNING CENTER WORK SMARTER !
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2022, Issue 3
West Virginia 811 • 5
888-882-8777 info@utasearch.com www.damagepreventiontraining.com