Underground Utility Locating
Underground Utility Locating
ELM provides locating services to a variety of underground utility types including natural gas, electricity, phone, cable television, and fiber optic. With over 800 highly trained specialists in the field locating more than 3 million tickets per year the focus on accuracy, timeliness, and reliability produces results. 99.977% of locate tickets result in no locate related damages.
All ELM Damage Prevention Specialists are Nulca certified, and STAR trained. What is STAR? STAR is the industry leading employee training program developed by ELM. Standing for Safety, Training, Accuracy, and Reliability, the STAR program was the first training program ever certified by Nulca.
Utilizing advanced SiteRightâ„¢ technology for Incident or Damage Investigations enables the following features in capturing all relevant data:
- Compare before and after incident photos with the unique Photo Overlay feature
- All data collected is embedded with GIS lat/long coordinates and is date/time stamped.
- Write or draw on photos or sketches for further clarification
- Generate comprehensive reports and export data
- Capture critical data points even when offline
In addition to world class locating services, ELM also offers these other underground utility related services.
Standby & Monitor
Also known as Watchdog Services, ELM’s Standby & Monitor program supports your damage prevention efforts by placing highly trained professionals on your excavation sites. When digging near buried utilities, OQ and Nulca certified Damage Prevention Specialists will be on hand to maintain the highest safety standards and to ensure that no damages occur.
Steps in the Standby & Monitor program include:
- Verification of valid One-Call request ticket
- Confirm location of previous line locations
- Verification that excavation meets Federal and State guidelines
- Ensure proper support and protection of any exposed facilities
- Ensure pipes and coatings are not damaged by hand digging within the tolerance zone
- If coating is damaged, remediate the facility according to customer policy
- Ensure no damage occurs to pipe or coating during the backfill process
Locate Technician Training
ELM offers training for locate technicians to a variety of entities related to utilities including city municipalities, electric cooperatives, contractors, and even large utility companies. With oneor two-day training options available, your locate technicians will receive training from ELM corporate training professionals, many of whom have over 20 years of experience in the field and contributed to the development of the Nulca Competence Standard for locator training.
Classes include a blend of classroom and hands-on field training and can be customized to best meet your needs.
Damage Prevention Liasion
ELM Damage Prevention Liaisons assist in educating the excavation community about the 811 process, proper digging techniques and raising awareness of consequences when working near high pressure and high-profile facilities. OQ and Nulca certified Locate Technicians are utilized to ensure that no damages occur, and that overall pipeline safety is maintained and conveyed throughout the excavation community.
In addition to performing all the components of the ELM Standby & Monitor services, Damage Prevention Liaisons will:
- Relocate previously located lines prior to excavation to ensure accuracy
- Arrange to be on site when digging occurs
- Educate contractor on best practices for excavating around pipelines
- Ensure exposed pipelines are properly supported according to industry standards
