Requests for Location

ComEd subcontracts much of its buried cable locating to a third-party utility locating contractor. All requests from the one-call center are handled out of the utility’s two yards, located north and south in its 11,411-sq-mile territory in northern Illinois. Statewide one-call centers have been established by utility companies as a collaborative method for excavators to notify the water, gas, electric, cable and telecommunications companies usually 48 hours before planned digging activity. In Illinois, the call center is called JULIE Inc. (Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators).

Some interstate pipeline companies and metro-centric utilities like ComEd also have established their own call-notification centers. DIGGER, ComEd’s one-call center, which is separate from the statewide one-call system, receives and processes Chicago-specific requests for locating. These call tickets account for approximately 10% of all requests and, with customers like Wrigley Field and the Sears Tower, represent some of the most critical transmission and distribution lines on ComEd’s system.

On a typical day, call tickets are prioritized and assigned to locators. The majority of the tickets go to ComEd’s subcontractor SM&P Utility Resources Inc. (SM&P; Carmel,
Indiana). But inside the Chicago city limits, ComEd has chosen to do its own locates, in part because of the critical nature of the lines and because the city has DIGGER, its own one-call system.

Equipment Upgrades

Both in-house and outsourced line-locating teams use a variety of manufacturers’ equipment. SM&P, which has contracts throughout a nine-state corridor in central United States, often uses Subsite/Ditch Witch (Perry, Oklahoma) and Pipehorn (Birmingham, Alabama). Both SM&P and ComEd also use several Radiodetection (Bridgton, Massachusetts) locator models.

Locators say that there are many new features on today’s locate equipment, mostly designed to make the locator’s job more convenient. But last year, while investigating some damages, ComEd came across facilities that had been missed, leading the utility to revisit the locate equipment being used.

A closer look determined that when the locators were sweeping the area while using the power-mode function on the Radiodetection RD400s, which have been around for years, the devices were not picking up some of the low-load, long-distance feeders. An even closer look found that both SM&P and ComEd locators were missing lines once in a while.

When the manufacturer was brought in to talk about the problem, the discussion centered on upgrades in recent years that had been made to the RD400. The upgraded model, the RD4000, has a stronger receiver and does a better job of pinpointing the signal. It also has a web-connectivity feature, which means users can troubleshoot, reconfigure and download/
upgrade data directly to the unit. ComEd decided to invest in the upgrades, and during the remainder of 2005, it purchased and replaced all of its units with the higher-accuracy units.

Good Locate Tickets

Today’s new locator equipment comes with one-button reading, multifunction capability and digital display that almost draws you a picture. But the locator’s biggest problem at ComEd remains getting an accurate location of the dig site, date of desired excavation and self-explanatory information about the excavation. In recent years, ComEd has addressed this problem with growing success by initiating a simple strategy: professional communications.

Contractors used to call in a ticket that was vague, so the locator would go out and mark both sides of the road and maybe the intersection, only to find that the excavation was up beside the house on one side of the road—an hour job that could have been done in 15 minutes. The tickets started getting better when ComEd sat down with the contractors and explained that all of the stakeholders have schedules and deadlines.

Making the Job Professional

Another project Stutzman, the president of JULIE’s board of directors, has been involved in is planning the first Regional Utility Locate Rodeo, to be held in June 2006 (see "Midwest Regional Utility Locate Rodeo"). Utility companies can send their best locators to compete, show off their stuff and, as Stutzman calls it, "be professionals." ComEd is donating its people and resources to make the event a success. Stutzman predicts that in two to three years, organizers will be turning away applicants. The excitement and chance to show your locating skills in a competitive context is contagious, and the benefit of showcasing the important job of line locating is a win-win.

Making the locator job a more professional position has had an impact on both getting and keeping good locators and the quality of work performed. It is also reflected in the way ComEd pays its subcontractors. Stutzman says that as utilities look for professionalism and don’t always hire the subcontractor with the lowest bid, they are seeing a higher quality person being hired by subcontactors to locate lines.

Excavators Are People, Too

"Heavy Hitters," as ComEd calls them, are excavators who often hit ComEd’s lines. Brow beating and threats, which was how excavators were treated in the past, didn’t work. It was only when one of ComEd’s damage prevention managers called a meeting with all the stakeholders—the locator contractor, ComEd’s superintendents and the contractors—that things started getting worked out.

Stutzman’s recommendation to excavators, who come in all sizes—fence builders, contractors, other utilities, landscapers and homeowners—is: "Put some paint on the ground. Tell me where you will be digging." This method of marking exactly where you plan to dig, bore, trench or move dirt, called "white lining," has gained widespread success.

Utility locate meetings are now held monthly. Stakeholders, including some of the Heavy Hitters, are exchanging cards and cell phone numbers and saying, "Call me even if you have bad news." Rather than having crews and equipment standing around waiting for locates or a locator walking around trying to figure out where the digging might take place, everyone is communicating with each other. It’s a communications business.