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Improving Damage Investigation
Iam often asked how to better investigate a damage in order
to beat paying for it. While I
get the point of the question,
the real purpose behind the damage investigation is to get to the truth of what happened. If the excavator is wrong, no amount of manipulation
is going to change this fact. A good investigation, however, can tell what went wrong and how to change or improve things to prevent damage
in the future. If the excavator did everything right, but has little or
no documentation, they again find themselves involved in a claim. Excavators continue to find themselves in claims disputes because, in general, they don’t do an adequate job of documenting a damage. To be fair, utilities don’t do a good job either which leads to disputes and, in many cases, litigation.
A quality investigation can defend an excavator against unfair claims and literally save thousands of dollars. With just a few key processes in
place, excavators can set themselves
up for success in the event of an unforeseen incident. One of the most overlooked tasks necessary for a quality investigation occurs long before the incident ever happens. Taking photographs or video after locates are complete and before excavation begins
4 • West Virginia 811 2024, Issue 2
can be critical in telling the story of
a utility damage. Once excavation begins, the site changes forever; marks are destroyed making it impossible
to know what the area looked like before the damage without the aid of pictures. Many court cases have been lost because the contractor could not prove his claim that a line had not been marked or was mismarked prior to the damage.
It is necessary to capture an overview of the area that provides a geographic reference to place the photograph
at the location. Date and time are important and many cameras have this information built into the metadata even though it may not show in the picture. Photographs should follow the path of the proposed excavation along with potential crossings of other utility lines. Even if there is no paint, pictures should be taken. If a line is struck, those photos will clearly show the absence of paint or flags. You can’t take too many pictures. Pictures cost nearly nothing with today’s technology, so take plenty.
Video can be an excellent addition to the documentation process. The concept is the same as with photography,
except the videographer has the ability to narrate as the scene is captured. Talking about the marks (or lack of marks) as well as what will take place
can be a powerful piece of evidence should things go wrong. Background noise and opinions should be kept out of the video. I’ve seen numerous videos produced that had great content, but the narration was filled with opinions and conclusions that were later
proved wrong or with an obvious bias against the other party which hurt the contractor’s case. Stick to the facts.
Potholing activities should be documented with pictures and video when possible. In many cases, open excavation will destroy any sign of potholing and if an incident occurs there will be questions as to whether potholing took place. Unfortunately, if it isn’t documented, it might as well have not happened. This documentation will show the utility in question was safely exposed without damage, which can be helpful if something goes wrong several months or years down the road.
Once all utility responses have
been verified and the potholing has been completed and documented, excavation can begin. It is a good idea to periodically take pictures and video throughout the excavation process.
All this documentation will certainly help to reduce damages, however, despite doing everything right incidents still happen. When they
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By Ron Peterson Executive Director Nulca