Page 8 - Tennessee 811 Magazine 2022 Issue 1

By Jason Kouba
Damage Prevention Liaison Tennessee811
1,033,777. That’s the number
of locate requests processed
in Tennessee in 2021. What
does this mean to our locating community and how can contractors help in managing ticket volume? While utilities and contract locators work at staffing to manage the volume, there are things that excavators can do to help ensure your tickets are getting marked in a timely manner.
Let’s look at some numbers to determine where a locator’s time is spent, and then we will discuss what you as an excavator can do to help. In calendar year 2021, there were 428,145 tickets updated. This equates to 41% of all ticket volume being located more than once before the project was completed. Now this isn’t to say that the update tickets weren’t necessary, but there is a good chance that many of these tickets fall into a couple of categories that eat up the resources available to get these tickets marked.
The first instance is that a contractor calls in a locate request for a project and then doesn’t get started on the project prior to the ticket needing to be updated. In this case, the locators have now located this ticket twice before any work has occurred. Our dig law states that tickets must be called in at least three working days prior, but not more than ten days before work is to begin. By calling tickets in well before you plan to begin work, there may not be any impact on you as the excavator, but the locators have a legal obligation to mark that ticket whether the excavator is performing work or not.
The second instance that impacts resources regarding update tickets is updating project tickets where some or most of the project is complete. Once again, we need to keep in mind that
1 Million Locate Requests
a locate request is a legal document
and requires a response by the utility. When an excavator is working on an ongoing project and updates their ticket, think about the impact that has on
the utility. For example, contractor X
is working a project and has a locate request covering 2000 feet (tickets in Tennessee have a 2000-foot limitation).
always possible, however, if we keep this in mind when calling in tickets, we may be able to reduce the number of unnecessary updates for the locators.
Let’s look at another scenario that uses a lot of resources that may not be necessary. There were approximately 119,802 pole and sign installation tickets in 2021 representing about 11%
of all ticket volume. These types
of tickets are another example of locate requests that although seem simple enough when you call them in, can require a lot of resources by the utilities to get marked. Tennessee law requires the use of white marks to identify your dig sight unless it
is easily identifiable. A lot of times
a contractor will call in a ticket stating, “From the intersection, locate going east for 2000 feet for pole installation.” Once again, think of that ticket as a legal document. When a ticket calls for 2000 linear feet, the utilities and their locators are legally required to mark that 2000 feet. Instead of calling in the
entire distance of area that you are doing pole work, white mark the pole locations and ask for a 50’ radius of white marks. This will greatly reduce the amount of time utilities must spend marking a ticket and free up resources to be able to get to other tickets on their board.
Lastly, let’s discuss emergency tickets. We know that all emergencies cannot be avoided, but we can look at what constitutes an emergency. In 2021, there were 276,565 immediate emergencies called in and 147,093 impending emergencies. So, what does this mean? Of the total ticket volume last year, 41% of tickets were emergencies requiring locators to move resources away from normal notice tickets to complete these emergencies tickets in the required time frame.
6 • Tennessee811 2022, Issue 1
The contractor has 500 feet left of
their project but has not yet finished the project and the ticket is about to expire so they call in an update. When that ticket is updated, the utilities and locators must remark the entire 2000 foot listed on the ticket even though
the excavator is only working on the last 500 feet of the project. In this instance, it would be recommended that the excavator only call in the 500-foot area where work is being performed.
If the ticket is called in at least three business days prior to the expiration of the original ticket (as would be the case on an update ticket) then the excavator would still have a valid locate request
to be able to finish the project, but the locators would not be using resources to mark the 1500-foot area that is already complete. We understand that this isn’t