The job of a Damage Prevention Liaison covers a wide range of duties. I would describe it as a mix of customer service, outreach, marketing, and education.
We often get calls from the public from people wanting to file a complaint against a utility, utility contractor, excavator, or homeowner for alleged violations of Tennessee’s Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act (or “Dig Law”). A common call is someone wishing to report excavation work in an area where a One Call ticket has not been requested and underground utilities have not been located.
It is a common misconception that 811 is the organization that processes and investigates enforcement complaints, but Tennessee 811 is neither an investigative agency nor a regulatory arm of state government. So, in these situations, we often find ourselves brought into the middle of an issue between a complainant and an alleged violator. Because we try to keep a neutral position between all the stakeholders we serve, our assistance usually comes in the form of answering “best practice” questions or directing people to the appropriate “Dig Law” sections and the Tennessee Public Utility Commission (TPUC) website for information on how to file a complaint.
Sometimes, even though we aren’t officially “investigators”, we get situations where a bit of investigation is needed to figure out what an issue is and how to best help the person asking for our assistance.
Recently, a homeowner contacted us wishing to file a complaint against a utility contractor that she had seen on her street. The homeowner explained that she worked from her residence and her livelihood depended on maintaining a high-speed internet connection in her home office. Her fear, based on a neighbor’s experience of suffering a damaged fiber utility a few weeks earlier, was that the trucks and equipment she had seen on the side of the road a few blocks away would perform excavation that could potentially cause damage and leave her without internet service. The homeowner had previously worked for an engineering firm and knew about 811 and the One Call system. When she did not see colored paint or flags on the ground in the area, she approached the workers and asked if they had called 811 to get the utilities marked. When the workers on scene told her they were not sure, she called 811 to see if there was a valid One Call ticket in the area.
Upon learning there was no active locate ticket on her street, she wanted to file a complaint against the contractor. Because the homeowner lived in one of the Tennessee counties in my Damage Prevention region, this is where I came in. I provided the homeowner with the online resources and information we normally provide for this request, but she revealed that she did not know the name of the company doing the work. She had only seen the company logo and some initials on the side of a truck. I asked her to let me look into it before she started the complaint process.
Using a number of public sources, I was able to identify the company as a utility subcontractor based out of state. I checked our One Call system for any other tickets involving the contractor and was able to get a good direct phone number to their corporate office, which led to them providing me with a cell phone number for a regional supervisor who was overseeing this project. After talking to the supervisor, he told me that their work in the area only consisted of inserting conduit into existing underground vaults and that there was no excavation or excavating equipment on site. He assured me the only equipment in the neighborhood would be pick-up trucks towing large spools of conduit. They had not called in a One Call ticket because no excavation would be taking place.
By this time, the homeowner had gone back out and took several photos of the crew and equipment and emailed them to me, which confirmed everything the supervisor had said. After reviewing everything with her, she was satisfied that her utilities would be safe and that pursuing a complaint would not be appropriate.
A happy ending? Yes. Not only is it great to know more homeowners are becoming educated about the importance of the One Call system, but this incident also let a major contractor know that as well!
I would like to think I was able to save someone from filing an online complaint and the contractor from potentially having to respond to one. I made some good contacts and was able to provide some education on our process and clarify some of our state requirements to both sides.