The Underground Blog

Here’s one of the first “public” articles I have seen about 811:
http://www.dmnnewswire.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=77549
April 2007 is getting closer, and we should be seeing more and more publicity surrounding the 811 campaign. Hopefully this will result in more public awareness and less accidents and injuries, especially in some of the “smaller” markets like I spoke about the in […]

When we think about safe excavation and digging safely, we tend to think about large construction crews and big machinery. The most recent trench accident in Edmonton was a result of two people trying to fix a water leak into condos. Luckily, these workers survived the accident - read more.
At the CGA Excavation Safety […]

I’ll be vacationing in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands this week to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Seeing we’re having 30-40 degree weather in Minnesota, it will be a welcome break! Have a great week and tune back next Monday.
Scott

We’re currently developing the Excavation Safety Guide for 2007. We’re looking forward to releasing the guide with a new look and updated articles and resources. In addition, we will have the newly expanded Excavation Safety Guide website as a expansion of the printed guide, providing more information about article topics.
The Excavation Safety Guide website will […]

This worker was lucky to be alive after a trench collapse in Ohio on Friday.
These four articles tell the story:
NBC 4 News article
Cleveland.com article
The Chronicle Article
NewsNet 5 Article

In addition to the Underground Safety Summit to be held at the CGA Excavation Safety Conference and Expo, we are planning on adding new industry-specific summits to address industry-related issues.
Right now, we are planning the following summits:

Oil & Gas Pipeline Integrity Summit
Water & Sewer Infrastructure Protection Summit
Fiber Optic Cable Protection Summit
Electric Overhead/Underground Safety Summit
Contractor Summit […]

On October 10, The Underground Safety Institute held an extremely productive meeting to brainstorm on ideas for conference sessions at the upcoming CGA Excavation Safety Conference and the Underground Safety Summit which be held at the event.
The Underground Safety Summit will consist of a panel of industry experts from across the country. Panel members will […]

The fine given to the construction company in this article seems minor compared to loss of life. It does show how OSHA enforces safety regulations. The company involved in this accident was given the most severe citation - a “willful violation.” A willful violation implies an intentional disregard or indifference to safety laws.
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/local/15728681.htm

The city of Chicago has an Office of Underground Coordination (OUC) that coordinates construction projects as they relate to the underground infrastructure.
Their latest Review Requirements document provides a good summary of what the OUC does, how the coordination procedure works, and information requirements from the construction companies.

I was in Orlando last week for a meeting about the upcoming CGA Excavation Safety Conference and Expo.
I noticed that there are tons of these green/purple posts around the city. I guessed they are marking something that is buried, but I did not find any marker posts that had a warning message.
I commend them […]