Utility Contractor Tulsa | The Broken Utility Locating System Pt.3
This content was written for GEI Utility Construction
There are several things that can be learned from this incident. The first is to never trust the lives or livelihood of your employees or operators the general public or your customers with the utility locater that is responsible for marking utilities. An existing utility strike can be a very minor issue if it is something small such as a phone drop which is a service running from a phone main line to a point of service typically your house or business. On the other hand, an existing utilities dry can be deadly depending on the nature. If it is primary electric or even secondary electric or in this instance gas and especially a high-pressure gas line the effects can be deadly. Be sure that your utility Tulsa is doing his due diligence to look over the work area prior to digging no matter what locate marks have been put on the ground. And sure, your utility contractor Tulsa is taking pre-dig Photos or video of the work area before beginning work to ensure the liability can be transferred to the utility locating company in the event that there is an existing utility damaged. And lastly ensure your utility contractor has highly skilled operators on their equipment as this can be the biggest liability for the customer as well as the utility contractor Tulsa.
Another thing that can be taken away from this incident is that a gas line should never be attempted to be excavated for a repair while gas is still flowing. This seems fairly obvious to us at GEI Utility Construction and our employees and operators however for a gas contractor Tulsa which works on this type of potentially fatal utilities on a daily basis it apparently was not. Gas lines as we learned in this instance should be taken very seriously and care should be always maintained when working in and around gas lines especially gas lines which is been ruptured. The proper procedure in this instance would be for the utility contractor Tulsa to follow the line back 20, 30, 40, even 50 feet to a safe distance and dig down and expose the line and use a special tool to pinch the line off on both directions. Doing this in both directions is often necessary because most gas lines are fed from two directions tied back into the main from both sides so that a service user on one end of the line does not experience significant changes in pressure due to usage. Another thing that we can learn from this incident is to always stay clear when excavating in and around known utilities especially electric and gas as gas lines erupting due to being compromised are not all that uncommon.
In the aftermath of this incident GEI Utility Construction, the Utility contractor has relied on for nearly 40 years, had to deal with our first OSHA investigation. GEI Utility construction fully cooperated with the OSHA inspector turning over all of our documentation pre-dig pictures, post damage pictures, locate tickets, previous damage reports, second notice locate tickets, etc…. and had all of our employees on site give their statements to the investigator. OSHA eventually cleared GEI Utility construction of any and all negligence and assigned the blame to both the locating company and the gas line’s utility Tulsa. Although this was a small win for Gable‘s excavating or GEI Utility construction, it was one of only monetary value. Of course we were happy that we did not have to pay an OSHA fine for being negligent, and of course we were happy we did not have to pay for the damages that occurred due to the miss marked gas line, and of course we were glad that we did not have to pay for the damages that occurred due to the gas utility contractor Tulsa operating and Excavating on the gas line while it was still spewing gas. However, this only went so far as we were still extremely saddened that there were people who were injured on one of our job sites. All of the people involved who were injured did receive a full recovery; however, the scars and memory of this accident will be something that they live with for the rest of their lives.
This is why it is extremely important for you to do the best job that you can in finding a qualified utility contractor. Finding a reputable contractor Tulsa who has experience in the area, has experienced operators, follows the proper protocols and procedures, regardless to whether they are broken or not, takes pre-dig and post excavation pictures to ensure liability is something that can be proven should a situation arise, or utility contractor Tulsa who screws conduct daily job hazard analysis meetings or tailgate safety meetings on site every morning before commencing work. These are some of the things that a dependable utility contractor does and some of the things that a shady utility contractor Tulsa or A one-man craigslist backhoe service are certainly not going to provide you with. The often times ironic thing is, the services that we provide do not cost more than these smaller one-man shops and craigslist backhoe services. Often times we find our prices are equal to or even lower than their cost due to our increased efficiency.
If you are a contractor looking for a dependable, reliable contractor Tulsa who is dedicated to serving their customers at the highest level with repeatable Utility construction services please give GEI Utility construction a call today to see what we can do to make your life easier. GEI Utility construction is the turnkey utility contractor Tulsa has depended on for nearly 40 years for quality reliable repeatable Utility construction services of the highest standard. As always, we guaranteed to be our competitions price by at least 15% and to deliver a free no hassle no obligation quote within 24 hours. Give GEI Utility construction a call today to see the Gables difference or email us at info@gei-usa.com to learn more or visit our website and click the learn more button to schedule a call back. One of our team members will be in touch within 24 hours to discuss what we can do to help you and your project be more successful. Thank you for reaching out to Gable’s excavating into visiting our website we look forward to working together and to showing you what you have been missing with your current utility contractor.