This article is in response to my first article on this, entitled “Are Utility Locators First Responders?“. In the comments Seth C. Slifer, CSP noted that the Dept. of Homeland has a very specific definition of a first responder and upon further investigation they also have a definition for an emergency response providers. I probably conflated the two in my …

This past week has seen some big announcements from OpenAI and Google concerning new AI tools that they’re launching. I’ve discussed AI a number of times before and I’ll keep bringing it up because it’s the direction that technolgy is heading and thus the direction we as an industry will follow. As technology evolves, so do the tools at our …

I’m taking part in The Roundtable for Contractors today with Planet Underground and so I thought I’d spend some time highlighting what this roundtable is seeking to address. When it comes to damage prevention in the underground utility world, the focus is often on the one-call notification systems, locators marking lines, and utility owners protecting their assets. However, there is …

I was lurking on the Utility Locator subreddit this week and noticed two posts about Utility Locators being First Responders, these were posted in light of the tornadoes and then a gas leak at a home. So I thought I’d give my 2 cents on the subject. But first, let’s define what a first responder is: What is a first …

I caught up with an old friend last week during a break at the CGA conference, and we reminisced and talked about the future. One thing he said to me really stuck out: “It’s like we have all this valuable data scattered around – utility locator maps, weather reports, past damage records – but we’re not synthesizing it effectively.” It …

The Common Ground Alliance (CGA) provides an invaluable service annually by compiling comprehensive data through its DIRT Report and the Damage Prevention Institute. It would be beneficial to dive deeper into this data, alongside additional information from the broader damage prevention landscape. While safely working around buried utilities is a universal challenge, some industries have been more effective than others …

As artificial intelligence systems are increasingly deployed in the utility and damage prevention sectors, a major challenge looms: the opacity and lack of transparency in many AI models used for these tasks. The “black box” nature of complex machine learning algorithms like deep neural networks makes it extremely difficult to understand the reasoning and decision-making process behind their outputs. This …

With the amount of data associated with critical infrastructure and damage prevention cybersecurity is becoming a more and more important, the threat landscape is constantly evolving, and the protection of critical infrastructure has never been more crucial. As we witness an alarming surge in cyber attacks targeting vital systems such as energy grids, water supplies, and transportation networks, it becomes …

Being a proficient locator in the construction industry requires more than just technical know-how. When we send kids to a liberal arts university the intention is to get a wider knowledge of the world than just their specific major, I think we need to take that same tactic with locating. It demands a comprehensive understanding of construction standards, varied utility …

In the general busyness of my everyday life with kids, and work it’s pretty tempting to work from home or our nearby office and sit behind my screen all day. It makes it more straightforward and I can get a lot done that way. Yet, as the CEO of a company dedicated to damage prevention software ( Competers Inc. ), …