A MESSAGE TO OUR MEMBERS
We’re contacting you about an important issue impacting the Sunshine 811 system: excessive ticket renewals. These occur when an excavator renews a locate ticket repeatedly to have a jobsite marked — because the original ticket was requested too early, the job took longer than the life of the ticket, or to correct inaccuracies on the original ticket.
These practices have caused delays in the 811 Process by overburdening the entire 811 system with unnecessary ticket requests.
On average there are about 40,000 tickets renewed each month. In our research of this issue, it was not uncommon to see tickets renewed 10 times with a stated duration of one day. The worst cases saw more than 40 renewals for a one-day duration.
There is very little Sunshine 811 can do to alleviate these tickets for our members. And the situation does not show any signs of lessening with 900 people moving here daily and federal infrastructure dollars increasing construction activity.
Sunshine 811 can and does provide education on the law and Sunshine 811’s operating practices. We can also make recommendations based on our research, but we cannot deny tickets.
A recent survey of Florida’s excavators confirmed these delays in the 811 Process. And most of the discoveries were something only underground facility owners can control.
FINDING FROM RECENT SUNSHINE 811 EXCAVATOR SURVEY
Excavator ticket renewal is very common – 48% of respondents do it at least some of the time -- but 30-day projects and 1-mile plus projects are rare. The issues appear to be more driven by uncertainty about project timelines and work location needs and lack of confidence in getting timely locate responses, flooding the system with tickets because locates were late.
34% of excavators reported frequently experiencing a locator suggesting an agreement was made with an excavator without actually making contact with that excavator. This behavior has the potential to severely damage excavator trust in the integrity of the process.
A majority of surveyed excavators are experiencing city and county rules that require them to secure Sunshine 811 locate tickets to earn a building permit. These rules may be a contributing factor to Florida’s “over-notification” problem.
“The 811 Process is all about communication. It’s only as strong as the weakest link. ”
WHAT SUNSHINE 811 MEMBER UTILITIES CAN DO TO HELP PREVENT EXCESSIVE RENEWALS
In addition to the survey, we contacted excavators to find out why they renewed tickets for jobs that were more than likely completed. Based on those findings and that of the research survey, we’ve developed the following recommendations for our members to consider.
Do not require an excavator or homeowner to have a locate ticket before getting a permit.
Work with excavators who continually renew tickets unnecessarily.
Require your excavators and subs to do the following:
Understand when it is appropriate to renew a locate ticket.
Follow low impact marking practices. One requirement is that tickets be requested for only an area where digging will occur within 30 days. And renewals must omit areas where digging is complete.
Check all utility responses in Exactix. By not checking, the excavator would not know the site was cleared and could continually renew a ticket while waiting for marks that will never be placed.
Take the ITE online program. An excavator with 20-plus years’ experience in underground construction thought he knew everything there was to know about Sunshine 811 tickets and ticket entry. He wrote, “I strongly believe every underground construction contractor AND utility locator would benefit greatly once they complete the new ITE program offered today even if they never submit an 811 ticket afterwards.”
Communicate with excavators. Let them know of upcoming project or schedule changes and other delays. If they don’t know, a ticket will continue to be renewed.
For cities and counties, make sure your internal departments communicate and work together. The number of permits issued does affect your in-house and contract locators.
Check with the excavator before marking. They may not need new marks and simply had to renew the ticket. Or, ask the excavator to note “marks still visible” in the Remarks section.
Uphold the integrity of the system and ensure that your locators are managing their workloads and not providing false responses to Exactix.
Review and update your contact information within Exactix at least once per year and more often when there are position changes, retirements, etc. If an excavator cannot reach you about a ticket or need clarification of a response code, they may renew the ticket, waiting for you to respond.
The 811 Process is all about communication. It’s only as strong as the weakest link.
Your Sunshine 811 liaison is an invaluable resource for education and training around excessive renewals and other parts of the 811 Process. Find your liaison and access additional educational resources at www.sunshine811.com/education.