Better Communication, Safer Digs: A New Approach
“When everyone’s on the same page and can get ahold of one another immediately, it’s a win. It avoids damages. It avoids delays.”
To enhance their work together and complement the required steps in the 811 process, a project team in Port St. Lucie decided that testing a group text system would be valuable to better coordinate needs, marking schedules and timelines ... and save time spent on trying to communicate via individual phone calls or emails. The result? Faster coordination, clearer updates and fewer miscommunications.
AT&T's Senior Specialist, Environmental Health & Safety, Dino Farruggio, who helped organize the initiative, says the program arose from a simple question: What would happen if we tried something different? The answer, so far, has been overwhelmingly positive.
The benefits became clear early on. Prior to the thread, minor miscommunications—like one crew assuming a section didn’t need marking while another began digging—led to confusion and delays. With the text thread, everyone stays on the same page in real time. Updates about work areas are shared immediately, so if a crew decides to start on a different block, locators are informed instantly.
The success of the program boils down to one word: communication. As Farruggio explains, “When everyone’s on the same page and can get ahold of one another immediately, it’s a win. It avoids damages. It avoids delays.”
While the pilot program has just seven member operators and a handful of contractors, the hope is that this small-scale success can serve as a template for improving efficiency and damage prevention across the state.
In addition to streamlining work, this program also helps reduce the problem of unnecessary ticket renewals, a common issue when tickets are left open after work is complete. By keeping all stakeholders actively engaged and accountable through real-time communication, the project thread minimizes the burden on locators and ensures that marking happens only when and where it’s needed.
The success of the text thread initiative reminds us that we don’t need sweeping changes to avoid damages, just collaboration, communication and a clear commitment to the 811 process.