It’s 811 Day
This 8/11 is a beautiful Sunday and many homeowners will be using the day to tackle some home improvement projects, such as building a deck, installing a new mailbox or installing a fence. In fact, 74% of homeowners have or will dig on their property on their property this summer. Unfortunately, nearly 40% of these won’t call 811 ahead of time to mark buried utilities.[1] Hitting a buried utility could simply mean a few days without internet – or it could mean injury or death, depending on what utility is struck. Every 62 seconds, an underground utility strike occurs in the U.S., leading to more than 2,000 injuries and 400 deaths every year.[2]
It's clear that calling 811 or visiting www.811beforeyoudig.com to schedule a free service to mark the approximate location of buried utilities is worthwhile. Even in your own yard, you really don’t know what’s below, and having utilities marked is free, safe and easy.
What about the professionals?
Surveyors are superb at laying out construction sites and making sure engineering plans reflect what they find on the ground. They make sure everything is properly sited, both horizontally and vertically. They lay out the position of utilities in the construction site so that they connect properly with existing facilities.[3] They establish important benchmarks, both vertically and horizontally so that construction can be verified as it occurs.
Even though surveyors have access to engineering plans and know where buried utilities are supposed to be, they face uncertainty as to the actual location of buried utilities.
A Common Ground Alliance (CGA) White Paper states that “there is overwhelming agreement between all locating stakeholders that white-lining and updated facility maps will improve the accuracy and timeliness of locates, and that a lack of clarity with respect to the area that needs to be located is a contributing factor to late, inaccurate locates.” That’s why more and more engineering firms and surveyors charged with white-lining are prioritizing this function so that locators can be sure they are working in the correct area.
Once the excavation area is accurately white-lined, 811 can be notified to mark buried utilities. Unfortunately, 811 is not always notified. The CGA says that “Failure to Notify 811” prior to digging is the root cause of 60 percent of damages to underground utilities.[4] This seems like something that is very easy to fix – and very important to fix, since utility strikes have an economic and societal cost of more than $30 billion every year.
Unfortunately, like most persistent problems, it’s not so simple. Construction projects always have tight deadlines and complex schedules, so there’s constant pressure to get things done and not wait for underground utilities to be marked. Plus, some utilities are difficult to locate, such as fiber optic cables or plastic pipes.
Technology to the rescue
The PSMSA states that “Advances made in developing technology improve efficiency and accuracy in the facility locating process. However, more work is needed, for example, to include technology to address pipelines currently un-locatable through existing technology. The use of RFID, in combination with GIS, shows promise to address the issue of un-locatable pipe. Other technologies such as ground penetrating radar are in use, and improvements in such technologies will assist in difficult-to-locate circumstances. Similarly, rights-of-way monitoring systems that detect movement on or around pipeline rights-of-way show promise. PHMSA recommends the continued use of and further development of these tools…” [5]
InfraMarker RFID
Fortunately, Berntsen has been working with Esri for more than a decade to create an approach that helps utilities manage their utilities and helps identify underground utilities before excavation. InfraMarker RFID offers a range of RFID tags and an app that works with Esri’s Survey123 and Field Maps that makes locating and correctly identifying assets simple. A quick RFID scan identifies the asset then connects to a specified workflow in Survey123/Field Maps so that field staff know what’s below and where it’s located.
Contact 811
This approach is simple and streamlines field work – and the data can be shared with other contractors who are excavating in the area. Until every utility in the 120 million acres[6] of developed land in the US is accurately mapped, calling 811 is the safest way to help prevent utility strikes.