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February 2008
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News Briefs . . .
Attention key decision makers! Attend the Low Impact Marking Symposium scheduled for April 22, 2008. You'll have the opportunity to participate in industry conversation and see some of the newest low impact marking products available. Click here for more information. 811 Stakeholder Summit scheduled for April 22, 2008. Click here for a flyer. This event is being held in conjunction with the Low Impact Marking Symposium. Enter SSOCOF's No Bull Rodeo Challenge today. Deadline for entry is April 21, 2008. Winners take home $300 in prize money and the chance to compete in the International Locate Rodeo held in Georgia this August, plus up to $1,000 in travel expenses. Click here to enter. The intention of the No Bull Rodeo Challenge is to give special recognition to the profession of underground utility locating and to forge a partnership with Sunshine State One Call that promotes safety, damage prevention and on-going education. Know your enforcement options. SSOCOF urges all persons in Florida with knowledge of a violation of the “Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act," Chapter 556, F.S. to report this information immediately to the local law or code enforcement agency with jurisdiction for the area where the violation is allegedly occurring. SSOCOF damage prevention liaisons are available to provide education and enforcement related materials to any state, county or municipal law or code enforcement agency that is interested in enforcing Chapter 556, F.S. Access our enforcement page. Available February 15th - online design tickets. Internet Ticket Entry (ITE) users will be able to request design tickets online. If you're not already using ITE, sign up today, complete a training session and get started requesting tickets online. For more information on ITE, click here and then click on Internet Ticket Entry. ITE users given ability to cancel tickets. Now ITE users can cancel their tickets over the Internet. To learn how to cancel tickets, view page 47 of the ITE User's Manual. Powerful. Flexible. Intuitive. FREE. IRTHNet is the most robust ticket management system Irth Solutions offers, and SSOCOF is offering it to you completely FREE. It's flexibility and functionality allows members to automate locate ticket management to automatically route tickets and provide positive response updates. With the entire system hosted on the web, you have no additional IT, hardware or software costs. To start using IRTHNet, contact SSOCOF's Member Services Department by email at memberservices@mail.callsunshine.com or call (800) 651-6720. Call 811 Before You Dig Month planned for April 2008. The purpose of the month-long campaign is to spread statewide awareness of calling 811 before digging. SSOCOF is working on a number of items available free to you to educate your contractors, sub-contractors and customers on the importance of calling before digging. Click on the links below to download our free artwork, radio/TV commercials and promotional items. Promotional Items | Artwork/Radio & TV commercials | Governor's Proclamation |
Virtual Private DIRT now available to report damages in Florida
Florida's Virtual Private DIRT is Sunshine State One Call's version of the Common Ground Alliance's (CGA) national Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT North America), with a few modifications.
With Virtual Private DIRT, you enter damage information using the same data fields as DIRT North America, plus you have the option of creating additional "Flex Fields" to capture data that is applicable only to your organization.
Virtual Private DIRT data is located on secure servers maintained by the CGA. You access your data over the Internet. Since the data and application do not reside on your computers or servers, your IT personnel will not be burdened with DIRT maintenance.
No other company can look at your data without your permission; however, SSOCOF will collect generic information for all Florida Virtual Private DIRT users to establish or revise current educational programs. Click here to get started reporting today. You can also access this link in the left menu bar at www.callsunshine.com.
One-call bill makes way around House, Senate.
House Bill 573 is currently scheduled for discussion during the Communications and Public Utilities Committee meeting February 21, 2008.
HB573 addresses issues arising from the City of Perry's decision to charge for locating their underground facilities. SSOCOF's Board of Directors opposes this practice when marking is required by the Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act, Chapter 556, Florida Statutes. "The practice of charging for locates would create a significant disincentive for excavators to call 811 before digging and potentially increase damages," stated Mark Sweet, SSOCOF Executive Director.
SSOCOF Board approves positive response code revisions
At its January 11th Board meeting, the SSOCOF board of directors voted to approve the following list of positive response codes for use in SSOCOF's ticket management system. It is anticipated that the codes will be active in March. Implementation details will be sent to member companies.
1 Marked – A locate technician has been to your excavation site and marked the approximate horizontal location of underground facilities within the boundaries described on the ticket.
2A Marked with Exceptions – High profile utility in conflict; utility owner will attempt to contact you to schedule site surveillance
An underground facility that delivers services to a large number of people or that could cause major problems if hit (i.e. fiber optic line, gas line, etc.) is within your excavation site. While the locate technician has marked the approximate horizontal location of the facility, the utility or its locate technician want to be present during any excavation near that facility. The utility will attempt to contact the excavator to determine when excavation will take place.2B Marked with Exceptions – Privately owned facilities on property; contact private facility owner directly – A utility or its locate technician has located and marked its underground facility, but other facilities of that same type are in the area and were not marked because the utility claims no responsibility for locating them. This happens most often with customer-owned service lines.
3A Unmarked – Locate technician could not gain access to property; call utility to schedule access.
Excavation site is unmarked. A utility’s locate technician was sent to the excavation site, but was unable to access the area to be marked due to a locked gate, blocked entrance, guard dog or other circumstance prohibiting entry. Call the utility to re-schedule a time when the entrance will be open.3B Unmarked – Incorrect address information. Call SSOCOF to verify the information on the ticket.
Excavation site is unmarked because the address could not be found. Please call 811 or (800) 432-4770 to verify the address information and make adjustments to the ticket as necessary.3C Unmarked – Locate technician and contractor (excavator) have agreed to meet on site on a specified date.
Excavation site is unmarked. The locate technician and excavator negotiated an alternate time to meet at the excavation site.3D Unmarked – High profile utility in conflict; utility owner will attempt to contact you to schedule site surveillance.
Excavation site is unmarked. An underground facility that delivers services to a large number of people or that could cause major problems if hit (i.e. fiber optic, gas or electric line, etc.) is located near your excavation site. The utility or locate technician want to be present during any excavation near that facility and will mark as necessary. The owner will contact the excavator to determine when excavation will take place.3F Unmarked – Marking delay requested by locate technician and agreed to by excavator per agreement.
Excavation site is unmarked. The locate technician cannot mark within two full business days. The excavator was contacted and a new deadline was scheduled.3H Unmarked – Privately owned facilities on property, contact private facility owner directly.
Excavation site is unmarked. A locate technician went to the excavation site and found none of the facility owner’s lines there; however, there are lines of a similar facility located in that area which are considered privately owned. This happens most often with customer-owned service lines.3M Unmarked – Marking instructions are unclear; call the utility to clarify the marking instructions.
Excavation site is unmarked. The marking instructions on the locate ticket are not clear. The description may not make sense or the description may not match what the locate technician sees at the excavation site. Contact the utility to provide clarification.3N Unmarked – Locate description is insufficient - white lining is required per s. 556.105(5)(a), F.S. Please contact the utility when white lining is completed.
Excavation site is unmarked. Based on the written description on the ticket, the locate technician could not determine the exact area that needed locating. White lining is required per s. 556.105(5)(a) when the written description of the area to be located is not understandable, when the excavation site is less than 500 feet in length, and when the marks don't interfere with traffic or pedestrian control (i.e. placing white marks on the ground could be confused with the lines already on pavement directing pedestrian and car traffic).3P Unmarked –Utility does not have accurate information to perform the requested locate - please contact the utility for further details per s. 556.105 (7)(a), F.S.
Excavation site is unmarked. A utility does not have accurate information about the location of those underground facilities. The utility is required, however, to give the excavator the best available information.3R Unmarked – The excavator has performed the excavation prior to the locator's arrival.
Excavation site is unmarked. A locate technician went to the excavation site, but the excavation work had already been completed.3T Unmarked – Extraordinary circumstances per s.556.105(8)(a) exist; call utility owner/operator provider for this location.
Excavation site is unmarked. The utility has declared extraordinary circumstances through SSOCOF per s.556.105(8)(a) that render them unable to respond to your locate request. Extraordinary circumstances indicate situations other than normal operating conditions such as a natural or manmade disaster.3U Unmarked – Not service provider for this location.
Excavation site is unmarked. Another company provides the services at this location. (i.e. Two phone companies provide services near the area where excavation will occur. Only one provides service at the exact excavation site. The company that does not provide service within the exact excavation site would use this code.)3W Unmarked – Work is being performed by the utility and the excavator will mark the underground lines per agreement.
4 Clear, no facilities
The utility has no facilities at the specified excavation site.5 No conflict, utility is outside of the requested work site
The utility has a facility near the excavation site, but it is not within the area that was either described on the ticket or white lined.8 Ongoing job, locate technician and excavator have established an agreement on scheduled marking.
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YOU ASKED Welcome to SSOCOF's newest column, YOU ASKED, where we'll provide information to some of the industry’s most pressing questions on the Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act, Chapter 556, F.S. and SSOCOF's procedures. What is the process for requesting emergency tickets?The process is the same as a normal locate request with the addition of five questions to verify that the situation is an actual emergency. If you want to let affected members know when you will be doing emergency digging, enter that date and time as the "requested start date." Excavators are advised, however, that there is no legal requirement for a member to respond to an emergency ticket before the normal two full business day deadline.
How should a contractor proceed when a member
declares extraordinary circumstances? ITE users can access the list of members declaring extraordinary circumstances online. You may also click here for a current list. Callers will be informed by the customer service representative. If you have questions or just need additional education on Chapter 556 and SSOCOF's procedures, contact one of our liaisons to schedule an educational presentation. All sessions can be tailored to meet your company's specific needs. |
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
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IMPORTANT DATES
February 22
811 Stakeholder Summit, Pensacola
March 13
Committee Meetings
March 14
Board Meeting
April 1 -
30
Call 811 Before You Dig month
April 22
Low Impact Marking Symposium, Miami
April 22
811 Stakeholder Summit, Miami
May 1 -
31
National Safe Digging Month
May 15
Annual, Board and Committee meetings
May 16
Golf tournament, Victoria Hills Country Club in
DeLand
CALENDAR
Visit our
calendar
for
more information on these events.
QUICK LINKS
SAFETY TRAINING OFFERED IN SPANISH
If
you would like to offer a
class to your Spanish speaking employees, contact
Sergio
Clavijo to schedule today.
REMEMBER! SSOCOF takes locate ticket calls in Spanish. Call 811 or (800) 432-4770.
VISIT SSOCOF's ONLINE STORE FOR YOUR FREE PROMOTIONAL ITEMS
Contact us.
Sunshine State One Call of Florida is a private, not-for-profit, corporation created by Florida legislature in 1993. Its purpose is to educate excavators and homeowners on the requirement to Call Before You Dig and provide a free system for the excavating public to notify owners of pending excavation activity near underground utilities. Last year, SSOCOF received 1.8 million notices of proposed excavation in Florida.
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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