We’ve all heard the phrase “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Well, the Romans did surveying, as did the ancient Egyptians nearly 2700 years earlier. The Romans recognized surveying as a profession – surveyors were known as gromatici. The forebears of today’s surveyors no doubt groused about some of the same things we grumble about -  standing in the sun for hours on end or why an assistant failed to write down measurements. (Probably thinking of his wager in tomorrow’s chariot races!)

One thing they didn’t have to deal with, though, was today’s heavy underground infrastructure.

Ramming a steel survey rod into the ground is like playing roulette. You win if you miss something, you lose if you hit something; how much you lose depends on what you hit.

To prevent that, Texas811 offers a survey/design ticket to identify what’s below before you begin your field work.

 
A pair of ticket survey samples. Reminder - contractors will need to call back in and process a normal ticket once ready to begin working.

According to Scott Sasajima, Director of Operations at Texas811, “Protecting underground facilities always starts with 811. If you’re in the planning stage, request a Survey/Design ticket if no excavation is taking place. If and when that should change, convert your request to a routine ticket so the facility operators are aware of the pending excavation and refresh or place their markings accordingly.”

Again, the design survey ticket does not cover any excavation, and does not relieve the eventual excavator from calling 811 before actual excavation gets underway. TSPS Association President-Elect John Barnard defines a design survey as “typically consisting of boundary (including easements and set backs), improvements, trees and topography... basically a picture of the legal and physical constraints that would affect architectural or engineering design.”

That said, the laws set forth in Utilities Code Title 5, Chapter 251 and the Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Title 16, Part 1, Chapter 18 require excavators (and driving a rod into the ground at that depth turns a surveyor into an excavator by definition) to call 811 if excavation activities exceed a depth of 16”. Therefore, some cases that involve setting property corners, setting control points, and certain other survey activities are considered to be excavation.

Work considered to be for “design purposes” typically does not meet the definition of excavation and therefore operators have no legal requirement to locate their facilities for the requestor. Some do so voluntarily while others may prohibit their locators from responding so a requestor can’t assume that every operator will locate.

For such design jobs, we recommend that you call 811 which will generate a ticket identifying all operators which may have facilities in your proposed project. While you might not receive a Positive Response from all operators at least you will be able to see who is in the area so that you can contact their engineering departments directly and review any potential conflicts.

The operators who are notified have 48 hours to provide a “Positive Response” by either placing marks on the ground identifying the approximate location of the underground facility or by clearing it by fax or e-mail. 

If you do not receive a Positive Response within 48 hours, contact 811 again and declare a “No Response” identifying the operator that did not respond and the contact center will reissue the locate request. Repeat the process as often as necessary if you don’t receive a Positive Response.

More information is always available from your local Damage Prevention Council of Texas (DPC). These 23 non-profit councils hold free monthly meetings with contractors, utility operators, and stakeholders interested in damage prevention. The round table discussions and lunches facilitated by a Damage Prevention Manager are a great way to propose solutions and get answers.

For access to individual DPC websites and meeting schedules or to arrange for a Damage Prevention Manager to speak at one your meetings, visit the DPCs of Texas website.

Always remember that the call to 811 is free as is the subsequent locating.

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