Communication and compliance among all stakeholder's is crucial in ensuring public safety and damage prevention. The following article from the CGA Sept. 2006 Newsletter highlights current efforts in the promoting the effort of effective communication and compliance among all industry stakeholders.

New Best Practices
Deal With Emergency
Coordination and Unidentified Lines

Two new best practices—one covering emergency
coordination and the other dealing with previously
unidentified lines—have been approved by the Best
Practices Committee and subsequently by the CGA
Board of Directors on September 8, 2006.
All approved new practices and practice modifications
will be included in Best Practices Version 4.0 that
will be finalized and published in February 2007.

The purpose of one proposal, based upon TR
2005-02, is to identify how operators of underground
facilities coordinate emergency response with adjacent
facility owners. The committee was charged with
revising the statement that “emergency response planning
requirement in the pipeline safety regulations
to include coordination with electric and other utilities
that may need to respond to a pipeline emergency.”
The committee noted that that there are many
stakeholders involved during emergency situations,
including excavators, locators, owner/operators, first
responders, One Call Centers, and the general public.
Accordingly, the committee decided that emergency
planning and response should be coordinated with
all stakeholders.

The committee’s second proposal, based on TR
2004-04, deals with the identification of pipelines,
wires, conduits, and other underground structures that
have not been formally identified through normal
locating procedures.

To facilitate damage prevention, the committee
declared, One Call Centers should have an established
procedure that is implemented when an excavator calls
and reports an unidentified facility. The action could
be as simple as re-notifying all affected facility operators
in the absence of any other specified requirement
of state or local law.

The Best Practices are a living document that under
goes regular review to assure that the practices listed is
indeed the industry’s accepted best. The committee is
made up of members from all stakeholders that have a
role in the protection of life and property.
Every single stakeholder group holds veto power
over any introduced practice. The 100-percentage
consensus rule is often a challenge for the Best Practices
Committee. However, the end result is a fair and
balanced statement that all groups agree represents the industry’s best practices.

For Further information regarding CGA Best Practices visit www.commongroundalliance.com