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June/July 2006

Convenience

SSOCOF offers FREE online safety training

Caution: Utilities Below is the FREE online safety program designed to help prevent damages to underground utilities and avoid costly fines. Participants will gain knowledge to help minimize downtime, Learn how to save thousands in fines and unnecessary repairs, protect lives and reduce injuries.

You'll also learn the finer points of the Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act, Chapter 556, F.S., how to efficiently request a locate ticket and accurately interpret locate marks.

The program takes about 90 minutes to complete and tracks your progress if you do not finish in one session. At the end, you'll take a final test and print out a certificate of completion. To access this FREE training, visit www.callsunshine.com and click on Caution: Utilities Below.

Governor signs law
Changes for excavators, members effective 10-1-06

Gov. Jeb Bush signed House Bill 789 (Chapter 556) into law, June 9, 2006, making revisions to the Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act, Chapter 556, effective October 1, 2006.

There are several significant changes including extending the life of a ticket to 30 days, eliminating the 5-day start work requirement and an increased ability for local code inspectors and code enforcement officers to enforce Chapter 556. It also is clarified that SSOCOF is not required or permitted to locate or mark any underground facilities.

Click here for a detailed summary of legislative changes. To schedule an educational session on these changes, please contact the damage prevention liaison for your area.

Update contacts, stay in touch after hurricanes

Excavators and members throughout Florida rely on accurate contact information to reach owners of underground facilities when repairing hurricane and other damage. If your company has not updated its emergency, catastrophic or general contact information, SSOCOF urges you to update now! Communication is the key to avoid more damage during hurricane restoration. Contact SSOCOF's Member Services Department at memberservices@mail.callsunshine.com or call (800) 651-6720.

IMPORTANT DATES

July 19-20
Strategic Planning

July 21
Board Meeting

August 19
Executive Committee Meeting

September 4
Labor Day - Call Center Closed

CALENDAR
Keep in touch with what's happening at Sunshine State One Call. Visit our calendar for events, meetings and holiday closings and more information on the dates listed above.
 

REPORT DAMAGES
The Damage Information Reporting Tool is available for anyone to use to report damages to underground facilities. For more information on how to use DIRT and sharing information with SSOCOF, click here.

Contact us.

CILB approves Caution: Utilities Below for one CEU

The Construction Industry Licensing Board (CILB) officially approved Caution: Utilities Below for one continuing education credit, June 14, 2006 during its regularly scheduled board meeting.

Caution: Utilities Below is SSOCOF's online education program for contractors with high-speed Internet access. It teaches how to comply with the Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act, Chapter 556, so you can avoid damages and costly fines. It takes about one hour to complete and remembers where you stopped if you can't dedicate a full hour in one session.

All registered and certified contractors are required to have at least one hour each of a class in workplace safety, worker's compensation, business practice and specialized or advanced module course approved by the Florida Building Commission as part of their 14 continuing education hours required for license renewal. The CILB course number for Caution: Utilities Below is 0009235.

If you have not taken Caution: Utilities Below, please visit this link on SSOCOF's corporate web site: http://www.callsunshine.com/test123/resources/online.htm. After you have completed the course, the CILB will automatically be notified.

Contractors who do not have high-speed Internet access may request the program on CD; however, they will not be given CEU credits. Email your request for the free educational CD to promo@callsunshine.com and include your name, company name, mailing address and phone number.

Time vital to lawful digging, avoiding citations

As more and more of Florida's counties are patrolled by officers, excavators are learning the hard way how to calculate two full business days.

Locate tickets must be requested a minimum of two full business days before digging, the first business day after requesting the ticket counts as Day 1. The ticket Due Date is 11:59 p.m. on Day 2. In addition to the Due Date, the locate ticket also has a Work Date which can be selected by the excavator. if the excavator does not provide a Work Date, the system will assigned the Due Date. Excavators that begin digging the morning of the Due Date are in violation of Chapter 556.

The following chart illustrates the two full business day waiting time for normal excavations and gives the deadline for members to locate or contact the excavator. Digging can begin earlier if all members have marked or cleared the excavation site before the two full business day expires.

Day Ticket Requested	Day 1	Day 2	Earliest Morning Digging Can Begin
Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday Ticket due at 11:59 p.m.	Thursday
Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday Ticket due at 11:59 p.m.	Friday
Wednesday	Thursday	Friday Ticket due at 11:59 p.m.	Saturday
Thursday	Friday	Monday Ticket due at 11:59 p.m.	Tuesday
Friday	Monday	Tuesday Ticket due at 11:59 p.m.	Wednesday
Saturday	Monday	Tuesday Ticket due at 11:59 p.m.	Wednesday
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday Ticket due at 11:59 p.m.	Wednesday

 

 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
3	4  Request Ticket	5  Day 1	6  Day 2	7 Morning you can begin digging

Determining the Due Date During Holidays
If a holiday falls within the two full business day waiting period, add one additional business day per holiday.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
3  Request Ticket	4  Holiday	5 Day 1	6 Day 2 Ticket due at 11:59 p.m.	7  Morning to begin digging
10	11	12	13	14

Survey helps improve service to callers

SSOCOF offers a customer satisfaction survey for its callers to use to rate the service received while requesting a locate ticket over the phone and it gives them an opportunity to suggest any improvements. The surveys are reviewed by management and responded to as necessary. Complete a survey by clicking here. We thank you in advance for helping SSOCOF continue to be the best one call center in the nation!

SSOCOF offers free educational sessions to professional excavators and homeowners. For more information on free classes and other SSOCOF services, visit www.callsunshine.com.

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