Comments on: Required Graffiti or Utility Locate Painting? http://newurbanstreets.com/2010/graffiti-or-utility-locate-painting/ Sharring experiences in urban infrastructure delivery. Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:40:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Vertical Driller.. http://newurbanstreets.com/2010/graffiti-or-utility-locate-painting/comment-page-1/#comment-62 Vertical Driller.. Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:42:03 +0000 http://newurbanstreets.com/?p=991#comment-62 as Larry stated the writer dose have a good idea of what is going on. Currently my teammates and I are installing 70 some miles of fiber. If it rains the markings are usually washed away. If it's the least bit damp out this pain will not stick brick roads. I can not speak for the locate crew in your area. I can tell you where I am, we have a 3rd party locate for every service where we are drilling. For instance if these marking are not on the ground I can not install the fiber optic that runs past your house and you can not upgrade to the "fastest internet" of the current time. These marking save lives, property damage, and law suits. ie.. If my locator fails to mark something and I am in your area. If I hit it you lose the service, being gas, electric, water, cable, phone.. get the drift? some temp paint on the ground keeps you connected to the world. Now for the lives the paint saves, Drill operator, water truck driver, He hits a lvl 3 power that was not marked poof 2 ppl are lost, he hits an unmarked 6 inch steel cased gas line that runs thru your front yard and it's a Saturday. Kids playing in the yard, someone is mowing the front lawn, the Mrs. is in the flower garden.. A lot more lost than just the 2 employees. Personally I don't care if I blow up a quarter million dollar drill, I don't care If I hit a water line and your basement gets flooded. It's all replaceable and we are insured. I would not be able to live with my self if I caused harm to another person because there was not enough paint on the ground. I do see you are in Texas, I know the state is in the process of acquiring enough contractors with drills to replace all the steel gas lines. The old ones are close to the end of their service. There will be loads of paint on the ground. as Larry stated the writer dose have a good idea of what is going on. Currently my teammates and I are installing 70 some miles of fiber. If it rains the markings are usually washed away. If it’s the least bit damp out this pain will not stick brick roads. I can not speak for the locate crew in your area. I can tell you where I am, we have a 3rd party locate for every service where we are drilling. For instance if these marking are not on the ground I can not install the fiber optic that runs past your house and you can not upgrade to the “fastest internet” of the current time. These marking save lives, property damage, and law suits. ie.. If my locator fails to mark something and I am in your area. If I hit it you lose the service, being gas, electric, water, cable, phone.. get the drift? some temp paint on the ground keeps you connected to the world. Now for the lives the paint saves, Drill operator, water truck driver, He hits a lvl 3 power that was not marked poof 2 ppl are lost, he hits an unmarked 6 inch steel cased gas line that runs thru your front yard and it’s a Saturday. Kids playing in the yard, someone is mowing the front lawn, the Mrs. is in the flower garden.. A lot more lost than just the 2 employees. Personally I don’t care if I blow up a quarter million dollar drill, I don’t care If I hit a water line and your basement gets flooded. It’s all replaceable and we are insured. I would not be able to live with my self if I caused harm to another person because there was not enough paint on the ground. I do see you are in Texas, I know the state is in the process of acquiring enough contractors with drills to replace all the steel gas lines. The old ones are close to the end of their service. There will be loads of paint on the ground.

]]> By: Larry http://newurbanstreets.com/2010/graffiti-or-utility-locate-painting/comment-page-1/#comment-50 Larry Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:02:09 +0000 http://newurbanstreets.com/?p=991#comment-50 An interesting article. The writer obviously knows a fair amount about the job of locating, but doesn't seem to see the entire picture. I do cable locates for a living, and feel reasonably qualified to add a few points. Very very few contractors will do a job with only one locate request. All too frequently a contractor will request a locate weekly for three or four weeks before even showing up to do the job. Since the paint normally does not last for more than a few weeks on a road surface with reasonable traffic, the locator knows he/she has to put down enough paint to be able to see the marks when he comes back the next time. This saves time by not requiring hooking up the transmitter and wandering around in traffic with your head down. Trust me, if you did this for a living, using a minimal amount of paint is the last thing you want to do. Additionally, I don't know about your paving bricks, but those used in my city absolutely do not absorb anything. The paint wears off the hard smooth surface much quicker than on concrete. True, locating is a way of assigning blame. In my experience the most careless contractors, who hit things, are the ones who request the most geographically stupid locates. They ask for both sides of the street for the length of the block, when all they end up digging is one small hole. They do this because they've been fined for damaging gas, electric, telecom, whatever, and feel as if they're getting even somehow. An interesting article. The writer obviously knows a fair amount about the job of locating, but doesn’t seem to see the entire picture. I do cable locates for a living, and feel reasonably qualified to add a few points. Very very few contractors will do a job with only one locate request. All too frequently a contractor will request a locate weekly for three or four weeks before even showing up to do the job. Since the paint normally does not last for more than a few weeks on a road surface with reasonable traffic, the locator knows he/she has to put down enough paint to be able to see the marks when he comes back the next time. This saves time by not requiring hooking up the transmitter and wandering around in traffic with your head down. Trust me, if you did this for a living, using a minimal amount of paint is the last thing you want to do.

Additionally, I don’t know about your paving bricks, but those used in my city absolutely do not absorb anything. The paint wears off the hard smooth surface much quicker than on concrete.

True, locating is a way of assigning blame. In my experience the most careless contractors, who hit things, are the ones who request the most geographically stupid locates. They ask for both sides of the street for the length of the block, when all they end up digging is one small hole. They do this because they’ve been fined for damaging gas, electric, telecom, whatever, and feel as if they’re getting even somehow.

]]> By: Caleb http://newurbanstreets.com/2010/graffiti-or-utility-locate-painting/comment-page-1/#comment-48 Caleb Sat, 28 May 2011 02:13:28 +0000 http://newurbanstreets.com/?p=991#comment-48 The real issues we find here is lack of training of the locate tech and failure of the contractor who is doing the excavation. The locate company can train locators to be mindful of how the area looks to the public while still leaving plainly visible marks. The locate company can also choose to have their techs use chalk paint, colored grease pencils or crayons and off-set marks from an area which is less sensitive to blatant marks. The contractor can set up meetings with locators and specify the exact extent of work needed. This is the biggest problem that we as locators see and the reasons are: certain contractors deride locators or the utility company they work for in general, certain contractors never visit job sites and over call their locate requests, some are notorious for not caring what facilities may be in their way and disregard marks forcing more blatant marks, many fail to actually do the work and proceed to recall locate requests time after time after time. I know all this because these are the issues our locating dept faces on a daily basis. There is some recourse though. First, the Locate company can be liable to remove over zealous marks, I've both seen and done it myself. Second, the contractor in many states is held liable by the one-call laws to remove any and all marks as well as damage to any area worked upon, restoring it to it's original state or better. In summary, there is things that can improve on both sides of the paint and there is recourse to have excessive markings removed. Check the state laws. The real issues we find here is lack of training of the locate tech and failure of the contractor who is doing the excavation.
The locate company can train locators to be mindful of how the area looks to the public while still leaving plainly visible marks. The locate company can also choose to have their techs use chalk paint, colored grease pencils or crayons and off-set marks from an area which is less sensitive to blatant marks.
The contractor can set up meetings with locators and specify the exact extent of work needed. This is the biggest problem that we as locators see and the reasons are: certain contractors deride locators or the utility company they work for in general, certain contractors never visit job sites and over call their locate requests, some are notorious for not caring what facilities may be in their way and disregard marks forcing more blatant marks, many fail to actually do the work and proceed to recall locate requests time after time after time.
I know all this because these are the issues our locating dept faces on a daily basis.
There is some recourse though. First, the Locate company can be liable to remove over zealous marks, I’ve both seen and done it myself. Second, the contractor in many states is held liable by the one-call laws to remove any and all marks as well as damage to any area worked upon, restoring it to it’s original state or better.
In summary, there is things that can improve on both sides of the paint and there is recourse to have excessive markings removed. Check the state laws.

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