Look to Planet Underground TV for the latest events, technology, and education to promote safety in the underground utility industry for locators, excavators, one-call centers, engineers and others. We are dedicated to the protection of stakeholders and communities from damages that can occur as part of the excavation process for underground utilities.
Planet Underground publishes American Locator Magazine online via its website to subscribers covering in depth education for utility professionals. We host two key events, The Jobsite at The Utility Expo and The Roundtable, connecting peers to share knowledge and future developments for damage prevention.
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Chicago, like San Francisco must have generations of historic abandoned utilities mingled with newer active plant. Even in the 1990's, San Francisco required that all trenches be hand dug. We were horrified at a cost of $75 a foot.
where do you usually get the maps and prints from for the locates? Like a subdivision for example. Great videos. Im an electrical contractor and use the leica ultra and an old school pipe horn. Seriously considering getting into the locating full time though. Any thoughts or suggestions for a new contractor wanting to start up in the industry? Thanks
Getting maps can be difficult to obtain depending on the job, although you would think the Utilities would always provide them. The truth is that they aren't always accurate, so if they did provide a outdated map and a damage occurs they could be at fault. Utility companies have more lines then they can keep up with, but they should be doing a better job at updating maps. As far as getting into the locate arena, it can be a very profitable business. Contractors often make great locators because they already understand how utility systems work. Not trying to sell you on our online training😅 but check out our programs with over 8 hours of locate training content. Also have utility map reading and basic utility knowledge programs as well, many of our clients are former contractors who start their own locate business. Check out our site here: trainingcenter.pdigm.com/tc/view/listing/2
Hi Guys - first - please, please STOP putting the onus solely on the Excavator. UTILITY lines are OWNED by the Utility. If THEY had kept good records, as builts, diagrams, or even started to invest in technology in the FIRST PLACE... we would NOT be in this predicament to begin with!! It was the UTILITIES that loved the idea of shifting the burden to the contractor. It IS the UTILITIES asset... not the contractors. It was/is the UTILITIES who wanted to instill a "middle-man" 3rd Party Locator system - specifically to skirt their own responsibility for the location of their own asset. All locating should be done by the OWNER of the asset. Any "tickets" would then reside with the OWNER... the volume, the workforce, there wouldn't be an "surge" pricing.
Yes, we def know this and always try to get more contractors on our Roundtable sessions but its very difficult to get any to go to these industry conventions. Unfortunately these shows usually have only 5-10% of the audience who are contractors present. After last year's Roundtable event we made new contacts with excavators in Texas, so we plan to have much more contractor representation in our 24' Roundtable 👍
We may be a little bias but this was a great discussion and definitely worth the watch. Full of thought provoking questions and conversations around damage prevention and ideas around how to utilize accurate data to further damage prevention.
All USIC did was take good paying line spotter and locate jobs away from utility companies. The amount of times USIC has mismarked or just straight up not marked a utility line in my line of work is insane. We would save more money having in-house locators. AVOID this company at all cost. I have also worked for them right after I graduated high school... Just go to trade school or try to get on with a utility as a meter reader or something.
I think u should actually of had a real locator and contractor at the round table not sales reps for locating equipment. If u actually want a real conversation u need to have real people on the ground at the table
We definitely understand and TRIED to get contractors and utility members to participate this year but didn't have any luck. Fortunately though, we were able to snag a contractor who was at the show today so check out the last Roundtable session. It was amazing. We always try to get all stakeholder representation but it is difficult. We appreciate you tuning in!
Hey @AddisonFamily5156! Thanks for listening in and commenting. Although one of our sales directors was featured in both of these talks they both started their individual careers in the damage prevention industries as locators in the field. Combined they have over a decade of experience in the field locating utilities and other subsurface infrastructure and have experience leading teams of locators every day prior to stepping into sales positions to help spread further awareness on damage prevention for private utility locating services amongst other things we offer here at GPRS.
It is required to hand dig, to locate utilities. If you hand dig and don't locate one, where indicated, you need to stop and call Miss Dig (or the utility) for an emergency locating service. Can't say how many underground strikes I've investigated where the requirements weren't followed. On one, the spotter failed to note that the natural gas line (that was shown to cross the street 90 degrees from his sewer excavation) was marked on the right side (at the front of the machine) and was marked on the left side (at the rear) indicating it was directly in the path of the bucket. They were lucky there wasn't an explosion.
@@andylee8907 True you can use a vac unit. The key thing for a lot of contractors is saving money. Remember the job goes to the lowest bidder, not the safest contactor. It seems that for some jobs, especially excavation work/repair, I ran into the same contractors doing the same thing with the same job site supervision. Unfortunately, when you are limited to 12 construction safety inspectors, for an entire state. Contractors like to roll the dice, with workers lives. They don't hand dig, to locate the utility/utilities, as long as they don't damage one, or if no one gets seriously injured, there's a good chance the site won't have an inspection.
I was a first responder for 35 years and ran over 10,000 emergency calls in my career for the St Louis gas utility ,I can assure you if you want to hand out, Maps we will have to add more first responders (you will learn more from your mistakes than you ever will from your successes). Most businesses want to grow , gain more knowledge and expand but if you listen to to your guest all he wants to do is reduce tickets and shed responsibility . Believe me , I know the location business is tough , it takes on a lot of liability and some days can be frustrating at best . If this is the business you’re in, I suggest strive to do the best job possible . I’m not sure who crowned your guest umpire of the locate tickets. It boils down to a contractor needing locates on utilities (his or her ticket will be the most important ticket to them , I don’t care if they’re the largest excavator in the country or a guy installing bounce house, pegs for his kids, The locates need to be done) . Mike, it kind of sounds like your guest doesn’t quite get it and the ticket world revolves around him .
Hi, Bob. I think one of the most challenging contract locating industry problem is that people don't want to be locators. It's very tough to find people that will take the job and maybe even harder to retain them. Jemmie's view is that we are never going to have enough people to address the escalating volume of locates so the industry needs to change how they do locating. He could certainly be wrong about things he says in this video but he could also be right. I don't agree with all his points but that's why we decided to get together and talk. I certainly appreciate your comments, Bob. Thank you. Mike
It’s not that Jemmie didn’t make a lot of good points ,he did but when you make statements like “ I don’t care” that doesn’t help anyone. Just like in the story he told about his daughter & no air conditioning “ I don’t care” , I think it would’ve been much better to explain to her why they don’t have air conditioning and the culture of the people without air conditioning. Mike, you interviewed a lot of great contractors and utility personnel & it’s quite obvious, they care . Yes,the light needs to be shined on the differences between generalized marking request and localized (The area or areas where the work will be performed ). I feel this problem could be remedied by the states public service commissions very easily , by assessing fees for unreasonable marking request (As Jemmie said “they need a little skin in the game”).
I grew up in Sun Prairie and I still live there. Not too far from the area that exploded. Today is the 5 year Anniversary. I drive by the empty lot that use to be the Barr House everyday, Hard to see it empty. There was already a news crew out there this morning at 6am. I know tonight there are things planned for remembrance.
I was a first responder for 35 years in the gas utility industry and in my retirement I consult from time to time when incidents happen in our Industry. There was a lot of good points made but I would like to take exception on the number of construction workers when using percentages in reference to locator or excavator casualties because the number of construction workers or the word construction worker doesn’t matter . We know when an error is made with the electric utility,it normally puts the line worker or excavator in danger (construction side ) while an error on the gas utility side will more often put the public in danger. Once you put the public at risk, it doesn’t matter what the percentage of construction workers are. It still boils down to a $30 billion loss per year due to underground infrastructure damage and that number has skyrocketed since the invention of the directional boring machine.
I received a Utility line locator job offer from Indeed today. With absolutely no knowledge in the trade, I headed straight to RU-vid for clarity purposes. Found your channel after watching a few videos, and been hooked ever since. Your time and energy in producing this content is greatly appreciated!
Excellent video very informative. As a utility locator, I was always interested when the gas utility contractor would locate their own gas for their own crew. Definitely have a higher stake in the game. It always interested me when I compare them to myself as a water sewer locator when I have 50 tickets to do in the busy season. It would be nice to focus on one small road job at a time lol
beware of USIC. If you get hurt, they send a light duty offer so you don't get 66% of workers comp. they don't have to give you 40 hours just enough to make you quit. NEVER SIGN LIGHT DUTY OFFERS.
