dig it nc_may 2014.indd

DIG IT NCin this issue

PAGE3 From the desk of Louis Panzer

PAGE5 Tree Planting

PAGE7 Pitt County AnnualBreakfast Meeting

PAGE9 Teach Th em Young

PAGE10 NC811 Blood Drive

PAGE11 Back to School

PAGE12 Th e Follow BUD Campaign

PAGE15 NC/SC Joint UCC Conference

AND MUCH MORE...

- DIG IT NC

Issue 3, 2014DIG IT NC is published quarterly

by North Carolina 811www.nc811.org

All rights reserved 2014To contribute to this publication please direct your

stories to Steven Moore at [email protected]

(L to R) Dean Yancey, Duke Energy; Louis Panzer, NC811 Executive Director; and Ann Rushing, NC811 Liaison attend the National Safe Digging Month Tree Planting.See full story on Page 5

DIG IT NC -

LOUIS PANZERfrom thedesk of

Welcome to May!

It is hard to believe that we are steadily approaching the summer aft er a raw winter. But spring is in full swing as attested by a record month for April. NC811 took more voice calls (54,300) in April than we have since 2002! And that is in a month where we also broke the record for Single Address Tickets processed (over 3000!). Needless to say we have all been working extremely hard to keep our service at an exceptional level. I am so proud of all our departments for really step-ping up and fi nding ways to surpass our achievements from last year.

Member Services has been working hard to bring new members online while the RTE department continues to improve on the num-ber of tickets audited while training new users. Th e Call Center Oper-ations group has really been pushing the envelope with scheduling to meet the demand of North Carolina excavators. What must be noted is that during the spring we take a much higher percentage of fi rst time callers and homeowners. Th ese callers require extra time and attention.

From a marketing standpoint we have also been hard at work promoting the “call before you dig” message. Contained in this maga-zine are articles about our UCC presence, blood drive, Charlotte tree planting ceremony with Time Warner and many presentations of the new law to Rural Water Association meetings around the state.

Going forward we anticipate the arrival of a new version of ticket entry in HTML format, “on demand” web training and preparing for the enforcement process. A busy summer lies ahead of us, but we are ready to make it happen. As always, a big thank you from me to my amazing staff , excellent Board of Directors, members and excavators!

Remember to call before you dig, locate accurately and dig safely!

Louis PanzerExecutive DirectorNorth Carolina 811, Inc.

DIG IT NC -

DIG IT NC -

By Ann Rushing – NC811

April marks the start of spring digging season, so NC811 and Time Warner Cable kicked off the

month with a tree planting at the corporate offi ces of Time Warner Cable in Charlotte. Bruce Sheldon, Time Warner Cable Commercial Construction Manager, wel-comed everyone to the event and gave an overview of the campus, which houses one of two National Data Centers for Time Warner Cable. Greg Phipps, Char-lotte City Council Member, was on hand for the reading of the proclamation signed by Governor Pat McCrory. Governor McCrory said, “Neglecting to call 811 before digging is dangerous and unwise, I urge every North Carolinian to take the time to use this valuable service.” Mason Mingus, #35 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver, is no stranger to the utility industry. At only 19, Mason has grown up around construction and knows that calling 811 is an important decision that can keep him and his community safe. NC811, along with other 811 call centers, is sponsoring Mason this season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

On October 1, 2014, the revised Underground Util-ity Safety and Damage Prevention Act goes into eff ect. Louis Panzer, NC811 Executive Director, spoke on the development and passage of the new law. Th ere were countless hours and many discussions to reach a con-sensus on the language that was championed and ulti-mately passed through legislation. Dean Yancey with Duke Energy, Chris Russ with USIC and Allen Gray with Carolinas AGC were among the stakeholders that were involved in the passage of the new law.

Th e ceremony was wrapped up with the tree plant-ing and photo opportunity. NC811 encourages area residents to visit www.nc811.org for more information about digging safely.

(L to R) Dean Yancey, Bruce Sheldon, Greg Phipps and Louis Panzer lend a hand with the tree planting.

Tree Planting in Recognition of National Safe Digging Month

DIG IT NC -

DIG IT NC -

By Howard Corey - NC811 Th e Pitt County UCC held their annual Dam-

age Prevention Breakfast on April 8th to emphasize Safe Digging Month. Th e Chairman, Lynn Raynor, with the City of Greenville along with a team of people helped put together their breakfast. Th is is their highlight event for the year. It was attended by 155 people representing all areas of the industry.

Th e City of Greenville along with Greenville Utilities and Suddenlink had booths set up for peo-ple to visit. Roger Jones, Director of the Greenville Utilities Electric Department and NC811 Board member welcomed everyone to the event.

Howard Corey spoke on the changes to the new “Underground Utility Safety and Damage Preven-tion Act” that will go into eff ect October 1st, 2014 and the impacts it will have.

Pitt County Damage Prevention

Breakfast, with a side ofsafe digging education

(L to R) Howard Corey, NC 811 Liaison; Lynn Raynor, City of Green-ville, Pitt County UCC Chair; Eddie Brock, Greenville Utilities, Past Chair; Gentry Coward, City of Greenville, Past Chair; Troy Perkins, Greenville Utilities, Vice-Chair; and Donald Broome, Greenville Utili-ties, Past Chair.

DIG IT NC -

DIG IT NC -

By Steven Moore - NC811Even a kindergarten student knows what 911

is, but what about 811? Well, in 2014 NC811 has been making its rounds to schools all over the State in an eff ort to educate the next generation on what 811 is all about. With a little help from CGA’s pirate video and NC811’s very own kid video, we have been teaching hundreds of chil-dren the importance of having their parents call 811 before they dig.

In an eff ort to help kids visualize the buried lines we are set out to protect, I designed and built a tabletop display that easily shows kids how the lines are marked and what they look like under their very own back yard. (see photo below)

Teach them young

University Park Creative Arts Elementary in Charlotte enjoyed learning about 811 with Ann Rushing.

Everyone loves Madsion and Madison loves BUD!

Students at Oakview Elementary in High Point watch the NC811 kid video

By Ann Rushing – NC811North Carolina 811 held a blood drive at their

offi ces in Greensboro, on Friday, April 11th in rec-ognition of April as National Safe Digging Month. NC811 along with South Carolina 811, Virginia 811, Pennsylvania 811 and Georgia 811, will be raising awareness for the “811” campaign by partnering with other stakeholders to collect 811 gallons of blood between April and August. Some Call Cen-ters will host blood drives while others will support stakeholders in creating their own drives.

Stakeholders that are interested in hosting a blood drive can contact Ann Rushing with NC811 to receive the campaign materials to get started at [email protected]. A blood collection dona-tion form has been set up on the NC811 website. By visiting http://www.nc811.org/blood-drive.html, blood donations for 811 throughout North Carolina can be allocated to the 811 campaign. Each day we save lives through 811 awareness, so we want to help save lives through donating blood and meeting our goal of 811 gallons.

Visit: nc811.org/blood-drive.html

DIG IT NC -

(above) Matt Barringer with B.R.S., Inc. came out to the NC811 blood drive to donate. Matt joins us every year and we thank him for his donation.(below) Wendy Bullins-Fisher proudly shows off her BUD fan while giving blood.

DIG IT NC -

By Mark Schuman– NC811With new legislation (HB476) going into eff ect

on October 1, 2014, NC811 has been busy educat-ing about new provisions that strengthen the exist-ing law. Since the fi rst of the year, NC811 has vis-ited municipalities, member utilities, non-member utilities and the NC DOT around the state. NC811 has presented at organizational meetings and con-ferences such as the Pumper Group, Rural Water Association, ElectriCities, and the Ground Water Association.

Th e changes to the law require NC811 to make changes to accommodate the new processes. Th ese changes include increased education, creation of an enforcement web portal through which complaints can be fi led, and system changes to address the ticket size limit. In the coming months we hope to reach many other entities and excavators about their requirements of complying with the law. You may view the full language of North Carolina’s HB 476 by visiting the NC811 website at www.nc811.org.

Start spreading the news

Back to school on the new safe digging law

DIG IT NC -

BUD has traveled far during National Safe Digging Month

BUD joins the NC811 staff at the Norfi eld Development Partners booth during the CGA conference in Phoenix, AZ.

Th anks to Josh Stigler with USIC for taking “Bud” to Florida to visit the Magic Kingdom & to remind everyone to Call “811” Before You Dig!

Bud was at the Outer Banks UCC. His trip would not be complete with-out enjoying some fresh ocean air.

By Ann Rushing – NC811NC811 has gone social. You can fi nd us on Facebook,

Twitter, Google+, Linkedin and Pinterest. In an eff ort to raise awareness through social media, the follow Bud campaign started on April 1st. “With April being recognized nation-ally as Safe Digging Month, we looked for creative ways to share the message”, stated Ann Rushing. Th e “Follow Bud” campaign is a great way to show us your creative photos of where Bud has been to educate those about safe digging. All you need to do is take a picture with your “Follow Bud” fan and upload it to Facebook. Like us on facebook.com/nc811 and tag NC811 in your photo or e-mail your photo to [email protected]. Th e most creative photo with Bud will receive an NC811 Safe Digging prize package.

Please hold on to your Bud fan because in May we will hold a photo bomb contest with Bud. Continue to upload your creative photos and you could be a lucky winner.

DIG IT NC -

By Doc Asbury – NC811

“Formed in 1928, NC AWWA-WEA is a volun-teer association operating jointly under one Board of Trustees as a Member Association (MA) of the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and a Section of the American Water Works Association (AWWA).

Th e NC AWWA-WEA is dedicated to providing water and wastewater education, training, and ser-vice in an eff ort to protect public health and the en-vironment. Th ey have over 3,000 members in North Carolina representing municipal and private utilities, consulting engineering fi rms, government agencies, companies that provide equipment and supplies to the industry, and representatives of academia who teach and conduct research in water and wastewater-related areas.

Over the 3 day conference a technical training pro-gram was off ered to attendees on wastewater opera-tions and maintenance.

Th ere were 454 registered to attend the spring conference in Wilmington, NC from April 6th to 8th. North Carolina 811 and 57 other venders exhibited at the event. Our NC811 booth was visited by 108 people who received information on “Call Before You Dig”.

North Carolina AWWA-WEA Spring

Conference

By Howard Corey - NC811

On April 9th the Carteret County UCC held their annual Damage Prevention Breakfast at the Golden Corral in Morehead City. A special thanks to this committee which is chaired by Will Pittman with Carteret-Craven EMC for putting together a great event. Th e speaker was Deana Keever, Dis-tribution Integrity Management Program Manag-er with Piedmont Natural Gas. Along with other important items about natural gas safety, Deana spoke on the importance of gas system integrity, safety while working around a natural gas main, and how to recognize a gas leak. Th is was a great event promoting damage prevention and safety in conjunction with our Safe Digging theme during the month of April. We also had several NC811 Board members (Bruce Shelton – Time Warner Cable, Jim Nelson – Piedmont Natural Gas, and Chris Russ – USIC Location Services) in atten-dance to help promote digging safely.

Carteret County UCC hosts annual breakfast

Call Before You Dig

Before you start yourbackyard project

NC/SC Joint UCC Conference

Doc Asbury and Louis Panzer take a moment to talk with Mason Mingus.

By Ann Rushing – NC811Th e NC/SC Joint UCC Conference was held in Con-

cord, North Carolina at the Great Wolf Lodge April 30-May 2, 2014. Th e conference provides a forum for util-ities, governmental agencies and contractors to network about issues that aff ect their daily activities. Th is year’s conference included 28 vendors along with 195 attendees and 23 guests.

General sessions ran concurrently with a Locator Training Class. Sessions included state of the union up-dates from NC811 & SC811 along with state law presen-

tations from both Centers. Stuart Edgerton, an Attorney, spoke about how to protect yourself and your company in order to defend or pursue an underground facility dam-age claim, both before and aft er the event. Chip McDonald with the Safety and Health Council of North Carolina pro-vided accident statistics along with safe driving practices. Steve Kite, NCDOT provided information on work zone traffi c control for utility operations. Billy Rice, PSNC Ener-gy concluded with a project overview of boring Lake Wylie. Th e Locator Training Class conducted by Utility Training Academy addressed both the art and science behind un-derground utility line locating and marking as well as state laws and best practices. Attendees also had the opportunity to meet Mason Mingus, #35 Camping World Truck Series driver along with photo opportunities of his truck. NC811 is a proud sponsor of Mason Mingus Racing and he proud-ly carries the “811” logo on his truck.

Mark your calendar for next year’s conference at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Greenville, South Carolina from April 29-May 1, 2015.

Conference attendees show their support for the BUD campaign.

DIG IT NC -

Jeff ’s JourneysCraven/PamlicoTh e Craven/Pamlico Utility Coordinating Com-

mittee held their Annual Damage Prevention Breakfast on April 25th at the Golden Corral Restaurant in New Bern. Approximately 40 people attended and presen-tations were given by Jeff Bartley a Liaison with North Carolina 811, Ellen Bacca a meteorologist with Channel 12 News and Dennis Howard the owner of Snap Fitness.

Th e Craven/Pamlico UCC is one of 41 local UCC’s within North Carolina representing 73 counties. Th e local UCC’s provide a forum for utilities, governmental agencies, and contractors in North Carolina to discuss the impact of planning, engineering, construction and technology among member organizations within their local area.

Th e UCC’s meet at diff erent locations and at various intervals throughout North Carolina. Please consult the State UCC website at www.ncucc.org to fi nd when and where a UCC meets in your area.

South River EMCTh e South River EMC held their Annual Meeting of Members on

April 17, 2014 at the Crown Th eatre and Arena in Fayetteville. South River EMC is a locally-owned and operated electric cooperative, which provides electric service to 42,000 homes, farms and businesses in parts of Harnett, Cumberland, Sampson, Johnston and Bladen Counties.

More than 1,600 people attended the meeting and Chris Spears, the Cooperatives incoming CEO and Executive Vice-President, was intro-duced to the members. He will offi cially begin his duties on May 1st.

North Carolina 811participated once again this year in the annual vendor bazaar. Th e bazaar brings some 50 local businesses together to share goods and services with members. Attendees learned the impor-tance of “Call before you dig” to keep themselves as well as utilities safe. Th ose who visited the NC811 booth were given chip clips, plastic drink cups, APWA Color Code Cards, and various brochures.

Th e Blake Kearney Band provided the entertainment and all who registered at the annual meeting were entered in the door prize drawing and the grand prize this year was a 2014 Ford F150 truck.

By Jeff Bartley - NC811 Liaison

DIG IT NC -

Jeff ’s JourneysBy Jeff Bartley - NC811 Liaison

Th e Hertford County Ag Safety Day was held on April 10th at Perdue Agribusiness in Cofi eld, North Carolina. Th e Ag Safety Day is an opportunity for local fourth graders to learn the dangers of farm equipment and household dangers.

Topics discussed were: NC811, Wildlife Safety, Tractor Safe-ty, Disaster Preparedness, Electrical Safety, Gun Safety, Chemi-cal Safety, Sun Safety and Grain Safety. Each group of students rotated to the next station every 15 – 17 minutes.

Ag Safety Days are held throughout North Carolina each year and are coordinated by North Carolina Cooperative Ex-tension. Please visit them at www.ces.ncsu.edu.

Hertford County Ag Safety Day

DIG IT NC -

DIG IT NC -

By Howard Corey - NC811Th e skies were clear, the weath-

er was perfect and we were all set up on Ray’s family Farm in Louisburg waiting for the arrival of 150 ele-mentary kids from the surrounding area schools. What were we doing you might ask, we were participating in 2014 Spring Ag Safety Day. Meg Perdue Wyatt with 4-H Youth Devel-opment from Franklin County coor-dinated this event. NC811 had the opportunity to share with these young people the importance of digging safe-ly and how to avoid damaging under-ground facilities.

Aft er watching a short video that we call the “Pirate Video” we discussed calling 811 and how that process works to get underground facilities locat-ed in an area before you dig. Th ey all went away with goodie bags and Bud Fans. Hopefully, the next time moms or dads are getting ready to do some digging, these kids will remember to call 811 fi rst.

2014 Spring Agricultural Safety Day

Mason Mingus may be a fresh new face on the scene, but as he enters his fi rst full season in the NASCAR Camp-ing World Truck Series, this long-time racing fan favor-ite looks to quickly make his mark on the tour. Starting behind the wheel at the tender age of seven, Mingus, a former champion wrestler and football player has earned a hard-nosed, tough racer, day in and day out reputation. It’s his passion and racing style that has quickly earned him the respect of new and longtime race fans alike.

A self-professed “gear head”, Mingus spends his time off the track working at the Win-Tron Racing team shop in Mooresville, North Carolina. His days are spent working with the team through the fundamentals of the trucks, expanding his racing knowledge that he’s hopeful will play an advantage on weekends. It’s this commit-ment that has Mingus, Win- Tron Racing, Toyota, 811 and the fans believing that his story is only beginning and that Mason Mingus is here to stay.

Stepping up to the plate in 2013 for his freshman season of ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards competition, Mingus impressed. In 21 races, Mingus delivered two poles, fi ve top-fi ve fi nishes and 18 top-10 fi nishes and fi n-ished second in the cham-pionship standings to one time champion, Frank Kimmel. Taking notice of his potential, Win-Tron Racing fi elded an entry for him in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Talladega Super-speedway on October 19, 2013. Showing incredible promise, the team fi elded him two races at Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami-

NC811 partnerswith Mason Mingus

Speedway respectively. In 2014, Mingus will shift his attention to full-

time NASCAR driver, running for Rookie of the Year honors on the NCWTS tour with Win-Tron Racing. He will be driving the #35, 811 Call Before You Dig, Toyota Tundra.

North Carolina 811 is excited to be partnering with Mason and his team and is looking forward to the opportunity in 2014.

By Louis Panzer - NC811Th is year the Common Ground Alliance

(CGA) 811 Excavation Safety Conference was held in Phoenix, Arizona. Th is is the “must at-tend” event for underground safety professionals and NC811 made sure to have plenty of staff in attendance. Attendees of the conference got an opportunity to network with their peers, view products and services from 119 vendors and take part in valuable educational sessions. Th is year our Board President, Dean Yancey, and myself presented a session on the new North Carolina law that received the third highest rating from surveyed attendees. In addition there were great sessions on social media, mapping, call cen-ter management, web ticket success stories and many more.

As an attendee and a presenter I can tell you that the value is high for those who attend this annual conference. If you were unable to go in 2014, mark your calendar for March 10-12, 2015. Next year’s conference will be held in Orlando, FL. I hope to see you there!

2014 CGA Conference was a big success!

DIG IT NC -

Th e North Carolina 811 team help Louis Panzer celebrate his Member of the Year award. (L to R) Ann Rushing, Chris Creed, Angela Ashburn, Louis Panzer, Doc Asbury, Stephanie Brown, Cindy Booi, Lesley Brouillard & Jeff Bartley.

DIG IT NC - Page 15

dig it nc_may 2014.indd

Documents