The revised law now defines emergencies more strictly. The intent is to reduce the number of excavations declared to be “emergencies” merely to get the site marked more quickly when no imminent threat or danger to life, health, or property exists. The new definition requires that excavators who declare an emergency must have a crew on site when an emergency is declared, and provides for penalties up to $5,000 for repeated violations of this requirement.

Under the revised statute, utilities, pipelines and other operators will have a little more time to mark their underground facilities. The 48-hour waiting period will begin at 7 a.m. on the next working day after the excavator files their request to have the site marked.
Once the site is marked, the markings will be considered valid so long as they are visible for up to 20 calendar days on non-agricultural sites, doubling the time allowed before such sites must be marked again. Farmers and other agricultural excavators get an additional 10 days and therefore need not request re-marking for 30 days so long as the marks remain visible.

Excavators working on large projects will be able to request utility location up to 20 days in advance rather than the 10-day maximum imposed under old law. This change will allow contractors and others additional flexibility if weather or deliveries of critical supplies force changes in excavating schedules.

Finally, the new law will allow utility operators excavating near their own underground systems to elect not to receive notifications involving their own work.

LA One Call is a nonprofit association of more than 1,000 Louisiana underground facility operators. The association notifies its members so that they can mark buried or submerged utilities before you dig. LA One Call operates as a regional notification center as provided for by the Louisiana Damage Prevention Law, which was passed in 1988. Anyone planning excavation should request that the site be marked by dialing 811 or by visiting their web site at www.laonecall.com. The service is free to excavators.

With just one exception, OSHA requires the use of protective systems in all trenches and excavations that are deeper than five feet. The one exception involves trenches or excavations dug in stable rock. In those situations, it is “legal” to work without protective systems. But be aware – stable rock is a very rare type of soil.

If the trench or excavation is less than five feet deep, a protective system may still be required if there is a potential for a cave-in. (Note: In some areas, state laws may require use of protective systems for trenches and excavations that are deeper than four feet. Always check with your state regulations.)

There are five options for providing a protective system:

OPTION 1 – SLOPING AND BENCHING
This procedure calls for, first, classifying the soil, and then referring to the charts and illustrations in the OSHA Standard to determine the correct angle of bank.
Type Soil Angle of Bank
Stable Rock – Vertical wall
Type A Soil – ¾ to 1 (H to V), or 53 degrees
Type B Soil – 1 to 1 (H to V), or 45 degrees
Type C Soil – 1 ½ to 1 (H to V), or 34 degrees

OPTION 2 – TIMBER SHORING
This is a system of wooden walers, cross braces, and uprights, that support the walls of a trench or excavation. The OSHA Standard specifies the sizes of timbers, based upon the various types of soil, the depth of the trench or excavation, and the type of timber used to build the structure (oak or Douglas fir). As a practical matter, few contractors or utilities use timber shoring. There are a number of reasons, including limited availability of timber, the need for skilled carpenters to build the system, the time required to build, safety issues, and the easy availability of other, more cost effective, systems.

OPTION 3 – ALUMINUM HYDRAULIC SHORING
These systems have replaced a lot of timber shoring. Developed in California in the late 1950s, there are two types of hydraulic shoring: vertical shores and horizontal walers. Both employ aluminum rails and hydraulic cylinders that apply pressure to the walls of a trench, creating an “arching effect” that prevents the walls from collapsing.

OPTION 4 – TRENCH SHIELDS
These are aluminum or steel structures designed to protect workers by withstanding the forces imposed by a cave-in. Regardless of the material they are made of, the principles are the same.

OPTION 5 – SITE-SPECIFIC ENGINEERED SYSTEMS
Occasionally the charts in the OSHA Standard for sloping and benching, or timber shoring, as well as manufactured systems such as aluminum hydraulic shoring or trench shields, will not work. There may be job-site conditions that exist or other factors that prevent the use of such systems. In these situations, a registered professional engineer must design a system specifically for the job. The engineer has to be registered in the state where the system will be used and will have to “stamp” the design. There are additional requirements, as well, all of which are covered in the OSHA Standard.

To summarize, by having a properly trained and authorized “Competent Person” on site, following the General Requirements section of the OSHA Standard, carefully classifying the soil, and utilizing protective systems, we can all work safely in trenches and excavations.

Editor’s Note: This is the fourth and final article in this series that discusses specific steps that contractors and utilities can take to help ensure the safety of their personnel. Obviously, this is an overview of the subject. It is impossible to properly cover the topic in just four relatively short articles. Contractors and utilities involved in underground work will need additional training to ensure worker safety.

David V. Dow is co-founder and Vice-President of TrenchSafety and Supply, Inc. Learn more about his company at www.trenchsafety.com.

The bill in part is in response to several pipeline accidents in the last year that killed more than a dozen people, destroyed homes and polluted land and water.

Specifically, the “Pipeline Transportation Safety Improvement Act of 2011” includes provisions that would:
• Increase civil penalties for violators of pipeline regulations and add civil penalties for obstructing investigations;
• Expand excess flow valve requirements to include multi-family buildings and small commercial facilities;
• Eliminate exemptions and require all local and state government agencies, and their contractors, to notify “One-Call” notification centers before digging;
• Require the installation of automatic or remote-controlled shut-off valves on new transmission pipelines;
• Require the Secretary of Transportation to establish time limits on accident and leak notification by pipeline operators to local and state government officials and emergency responders;
• Require the Secretary of Transportation to evaluate whether integrity management system requirements should be expanded beyond currently defined high consequence areas and establish regulations as appropriate;
• Make pipeline information, inspections, and standards available to the public on the PHMSA’s web site;
• Authorize additional pipeline inspectors and pipeline safety support employees, through a phased-in increase over the next four years;
• Allow PHMSA to recover costs for oversight of major pipeline design and construction projects; and
• Authorize appropriations for PHMSA for fiscal years 2011 through 2014.

“More needs to be done to strengthen oversight and address safety vulnerabilities,” said Senator Jay Rockefeller, the committee’s chairman.
Specifically, the legislation would raise fines from $100,000 per day to $250,000 and from $1,000,000 for a series of pipeline violations to $2,500,000.

The regulations would be enforced by PHMSA.

The bipartisan safety legislation has passed by the Senate Commerce Committee, but must still pass the full Senate and then clear the House of Representatives, before it can be signed into law.

Look for the 811 logo at the Martinsville Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway and the Richmond International Raceway.
Rushing on building, landscaping or excavation projects can lead to both poor quality work and dangerous situations. Hitting an underground facility can knock out power or gas to an entire neighborhood, in addition to potentially causing injury to the digger and other people in the vicinity. A digger could be held financially responsible for repairs if they don’t call 811 and damage infrastructure while digging. Every digging project requires a call to 811 – even small projects, like planting trees or shrubs.

“We are excited to have 811 represented on the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Dodge during every race in April,” said Greg Smith, President, Shell Pipeline Company LP. “In three years of leveraging our motorsports alliances, we have seen tremendous increase in calls to 811 and awareness of National Safe Digging Month. Capitalizing on the entire month of April will allow us to reach key audiences, including many who will be conducting home digging projects in the coming year.”

A quick and easy call to 811 will connect you with a local One Call Center operator who will record information about your dig location and notify the underground facility operators so they can mark the approximate location of underground utilities such as natural gas and oil pipelines below your project. Once the lines are marked, you can begin to dig confident that you know what’s below.
For more information, visit www.call811.com.

Many pipeline companies regularly inspect their rights-of-way using air, foot or vehicle patrols. These trained inspectors look for potential danger to pipelines such as construction activity or signs of gas or liquid leaks. These inspections along their pipeline routes are to ensure the security and integrity of their lines.
Pipeline companies keep in touch on a regular basis with emergency officials and work with local emergency responders along pipeline rights-of-way in case of an emergency, sometimes even training with fire departments or hazardous materials units. Even though a leak or spill is extremely unlikely, pipeline companies provide information like that which you will find on the following pages that will prepare you in the event that it does occur. Their hope is to continue to be a quiet neighbor and provide you with this important information to help if you suspect a problem in your area. Pipeline companies take the safe operation of their infrastructure seriously, which includes protecting your family, your property and the environment. Because of this diligence, incidents are very rare.

Dig Law Advisory Committee
Association of LA Electric Cooperatives
AT&T
Entergy
LIOGA
Louisiana Associated General Contractors
Louisiana Cable Assoc. & Telecommunications
Louisiana Dept. of Natural Resources-Pipeline Div.
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation
Louisiana Forestry Association
Louisiana Gas Association
Louisiana House Committee Staff
Louisiana Municipal Association
Louisiana One Call
Louisiana One Call/Board of Directors
Louisiana Police Jury Association
Louisiana Rural Water Association
Louisiana Sheriff’s Association
Louisiana State Police
Louisiana State Police Legal Section
Mid Continent Oil & Gas Association
State Fire Marshall

Recently we attended a dance competition that Ashlynn, our 11-year- old granddaughter, was in. Following the competition, the emcee had all of the students come and sit on stage. She then proceeded to announce the finalists and winners. I soon realized that every team won an award. What struck me and others was the manner in which she presented them. She was specific in pointing out how each had excelled in her routine.  Her excitement made every team and individual feel like they were winners. Her skill at interacting with each of the girls was impressive. The girls all left with an increased confidence and excitement. It was obvious they wanted to continue to strive to do their best.

The incident reminded me of when I was a Dale Carnegie trainer. I witnessed literally thousands of class members who had selected to apply the principle of “Make others feel important, and do it sincerely.” They consistently reported the achievement of what seemed to be miraculous results. It wasn’t that they were trying to get something from others.  It was that they were genuinely attempting to change how they interacted with people.

A newspaper reporter called the morgue early one morning to ask the attendant “Did anyone important die last night?” The attendant responded “They were all important to someone.” You see, almost everyone we meet considers himself important, some very important.

How do we accomplish making others feel important? It’s not as difficult as you might imagine. It does take a concentrated effort. I’m not advocating flattery, but instead to recognize the psychological needs of the people we interact with and respond in a sincere manner. Today’s typical response to “thank you” is “no problem.” That phrase has become popular and trite; it’s lacking of a response that engages people. I ordered a drink from a vendor at a recent event. He provided an example of how to engage people in a meaningful way. As he handed it to me I said, “thank you.” He looked straight into my eyes and said, “You’re very welcome.”  It only took a few seconds but was sincere and made a definite impact on me. It reminded me of when I was in a Ritz Carlton Hotel several years ago. I was immediately impressed by the response I received from the staff.  Consistently when saying “Thank you,” I was told “It’s my pleasure.” Those type of responses, when done genuinely, engage people. They help fill our need to feel valued.

What does this have to do with Damage Prevention? Lots! You see, when you’ve made others feel important, they respond differently. People become more willing to work together rather than focusing on just their own interests. The fact is we have double standards even when we don’t intend to. Human nature is to interact with people that we like or respect differently than those we don’t. What difference could it make if we treated all of the stakeholders in damage prevention as if they were important? Perhaps it would relieve some of the tension that typically exists between those with different interests.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Every man I meet is my superior in some way.” If that was true of Emerson, would you agree it most certainly should be of you and me? An attitude of recognizing others’ strengths fuels their feeling of importance. When others feel valued, we all win. Those who satisfy other peoples’ feeling of importance inevitably find they have fewer challenges in working with others, including stakeholders. This makes for a safer and much more pleasurable environment. You have the ability and opportunity to make someone feel important every day, let’s do it.

Now, you’re creating ZING!

About a year ago, I worked with a team that was not making the expected progress. So I asked the team if there was an elephant in the room and to record their answers. There was only one “No” answer. I happened to see who provided that answer and you guessed it – it was the elephant.

The elephant created considerable discontent among the team. He was a nice guy, seemed willing enough to help, but had the reputation to over promise and under deliver. Team members simply could not trust him to follow through. The elephant had been a member of the team for about a year before I started working with them. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to calculate the money this elephant cost this team. But you know that elephants are expensive.

It’s scary to realize the multiple opportunities you have to be an elephant: 1) as a member of your own team, 2) your team could be the elephant in your company, or 3) your company could be the elephant among the other stakeholders in the damage prevention process.

For the sake of this column, I’m assuming that you don’t want to be that elephant. If I’m correct then you need to know what people are saying about you. In a perfect world, your supervisor and/or a close friend could provide valuable information to you. But this isn’t a perfect world. I’ve seen many supervisors who are not willing to talk to the elephant, because the elephant wants to fight back. Or, they don’t want to hurt the elephant’s feelings. There is no positive result to shielding the elephant from the truth.

Should you want to know if you’re an elephant, there are options other than direct feedback from your supervisor or other internal stakeholders The first step is to look in the mirror. Do you see an elephant? Examine what you are doing that could cause frustration in the workplace. If you look for it, I’m confident that you can see it. Most of us can find something about ourselves that we can improve. However, even if you can’t find something that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re as pure as freshly fallen snow. It could mean that you don’t want to see the truth – and that would not be a good thing.

Feedback is critical for your performance as an individual, that of your team, and for your company to successfully meet the needs of other stakeholders in the damage prevention business. Ideally, you should create an environment in which people can comfortably provide feedback, because they know you will listen, understand and put the feedback to work to improve performance.

If the validity of open communication is questionable, there is an assortment of procedures available to obtain confidential feedback. One of the simplest methods is to create a questionnaire and ask people who work with you to rate you. Of course, you should have the results compiled by a neutral party, then rate yourself to compare the two perceptions. Always provide a summary of the results and specific actions scheduled to be taken based on the results to those whom you asked to participate in the assessment. Show them their feedback is being put to work. Yes, it can be embarrassing, but honesty is always the best policy.

As simple as this procedure is to complete, it is disappointing that it is not used more frequently to obtain the crucial information that can help you, your team, and your company to reach the objective to help people be successful. After all, that should be the mission of every one of us. That’s exactly what I’m trying to do with this article. And should you care enough to give me feedback, please send it to larry@aligningchange.com. Thank you.

“Good grief, Auntie,” I said. “There’s only three other kids that live within five miles of here. And besides that they’re only like three years older than me.” Roger Dale, Johnny Wayne and Tommy Ray were all eleven years old.

We played ball together, went to church together and this particular year we decided that we were going to be the first group to go swimming in the aforementioned swimming hole. Well, actually it was Tommy Ray’s idea and the rest of us just went along with it.

As usual when I had a big decision to make, I wanted to get my friend Dillard’s advice. On the weekend before the great swim was to take place, I asked him what he thought about the idea. As usual, he didn’t say much, but what he didn’t say spoke volumes. We just sat there for what seemed to be the better part of the afternoon before he finally said, “So what are you going to do when you get through swimming?”

Now I’ll admit, I hadn’t thought that through completely before he asked me, “And how long do you think you’ll stay in the creek?”

Well sir, no doubt about it, two excellent questions that I didn’t know the answers to, and as always with Dillard, the answers you came up with were often the right answers to the wrong questions. As I later found out, the questions could not be answered by a mere boy of eight years. The questions answered themselves and I was just along for the ride.

That question about what I was going to do when I finished swimming was answered immediately after I came up out of the water. The answer was that I was going to shiver, shake and get as close to the big roaring camp fire as I could stand, and for a while.

The answer to the second question turned out to be, “Not very long.” The water wasn’t cold… it was freezing cold. And that brings to mind the question Dillard didn’t ask until we got ready to go swimming. He asked me, “How are you going to get in the creek?”

In the summer time, we’d jump from the cliff, or we’d cannonball off the jumping rock. But to get to the jumping rock I had to wade in the water until it was almost over my head and then swim the rest of the way. I learned that day that when you stick your front foot in the freezing cold water, your back foot don’t follow naturally. If you grit your teeth and force yourself to get both feet in the water, as it starts getting closer to your knees, there is a phenomenon that takes place: your good sense kicks in and you back out of the water.

As is always the case, you can overcome good sense with just a little extra effort. The only way to go swimming in February is whole hog or nothing. I went to the bank on the other side and took off running wide open. Just as I got to the edge of the bank, I jumped for all I was worth and yelled, “Geronimo!”

Years later, I realized that the definition of commitment could be that moment just before you jump. After you jump, there is nothing left to do but let it happen. The decision has been made and it better be one that you can live with because it is the deal you’ve got.
I came out of that water as fast as I could get out and stood by Dillard and the fire. “Proud of you, boy,” he said quietly. “Not sure I would have done it just like that, but you were the first this year.”

I said to Tommy Ray who was also shivering by the fire, “That’s the dumbest idea you’ve ever had, and you’ve really had some dumb ones.”
I rubbed my hands over the fire and watched Dillard carefully place another log on the fire. He looked at me with an amused look and asked, “You OK?” I nodded yes and then said, “You reckon this can be one of those things we don’t tell Aunt Beulah?”

“Probably a good idea, likely, she’d whip us both,” he said with a smile.
I’d say the odds of me seeing nine years old just got better.