Beneath Our Feet: The Third Responder | Ep. 13
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Caleb:you. This is your episode.
Kyle:Yeah. Welcome, everyone. I'm Kyle, and this is Kindling Conversations. And I'm joined with my, 2 amazing cohosts and Caleb.
Ben:Take that. I was wondering if it's not including.
Caleb:That hurts. That hurts, actually. Like, deep down, that hurts.
Kyle:Battery is not included.
Ben:Alright. I'm amazing host. You can't steal my shtick. Ashley did.
Kyle:That is true. I'm Ben.
Ashley:I'm Ashley.
Kyle:What are you now?
Ben:Amazing. Shut up.
Caleb:Shut up, Caleb. Okay.
Ben:Oh my god. Do we need to restart this? No. No.
Kyle:I think we're okay.
Ben:Okay. Well, get us on track then. You know we're a late podcast.
Kyle:You
Ben:can tell us it's a late podcast after 4 long days.
Caleb:Oh, yeah. Yeah. For sure.
Kyle:No. The today, we're gonna be talking about, my job. So I'm a utility locator. So I mark underground utilities. Did we get a problem then?
Kyle:You're
Ben:like It's
Ashley:my job. I'm the only one that works there.
Ben:You're like reading the script. Like, you didn't know what you did first time.
Kyle:Time. There's no script. It's talking points.
Ben:Yeah. But it's like you're just, like, staring at that reading that.
Kyle:Oh, I know. I I don't know what I was doing, honestly. I just didn't anyway, so I mark underground electric and gas lines. Yeah. And this area is just electric though because, you know, I don't wanna mark the gas over here.
Caleb:You don't
Kyle:want to? No. We don't have the contract.
Caleb:You said I don't want to.
Kyle:Yeah. That that that would take every locate longer.
Caleb:Lazy.
Kyle:Caleb used to work for the same company that I worked for.
Ben:I did.
Kyle:For a time. Twice, actually. He got me hired there the first time, and then I got hired there the second time.
Ben:Did you also get fired?
Caleb:No. He didn't. That was, Ruck.
Kyle:Oh, okay. It was Aaron and Ruck mixed.
Caleb:I'm not blaming Aaron at all even though I did trust
Kyle:him much. It's definitely Aaron's fault.
Ben:We'll blame Aaron because he listens.
Kyle:Yeah. So, the company I work for, we're contracted through Alliant, and then, you know, obviously, Diggers Hotline as well.
Caleb:Who's Alliant for our Russian listeners?
Kyle:Oh, an energy company.
Caleb:Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay.
Kyle:How many do we have?
Caleb:50% of our audience. Slow.
Ben:We don't wanna tell Russia what our energy companies are. We just lost all our Russian listeners. Well,
Kyle:fuck. Infrastructure goes down to
Ben:3. It's a joke, guys. For your listeners. Don't get butthurt. It's a joke.
Kyle:Yeah. No. So at the end of last episode, I actually had an emergency to go to that included my utility locator job, so that's why I had to dip out early.
Caleb:Oh, you had to leave early? Couldn't tell.
Kyle:Yeah. That's the The podcast still just flowed smoothly. Of being on call for, for work.
Caleb:I think it flowed smoother after he left. Yeah. I'm like, this is the point where we tell you you're fired.
Kyle:Oh, again?
Ben:Yeah. We're gonna hire Aaron on full time. Oh, I
Caleb:thought we were hiring Mocha. I thought we discussed this. We could do both.
Kyle:Aaron was a natural.
Caleb:Aaron really was a natural. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, you can continue your job.
Kyle:Yeah. So, you know, that's I mean, that's pretty much my job.
Ashley:Okay. So I do have a question then because people are probably gonna ask, which is more beneficial, underground electric or above head electric because of Well Like, we have them here.
Kyle:Underground's more expensive, and it has it they each have advantages and disadvantages. So, like, overhead lines, you know, obviously, they can be damaged by, like, weather and, like, tree branches falling on them. Underground, you know, they can fault and stuff. And then, like, if it faults and they gotta replace it, it's not just as easy as
Ashley:Someone going up.
Kyle:Going up and, you know, fixing the line into your house. So you know? But underground definitely is more expensive in the in the long run. I think,
Ashley:Caitlin might must have to poop.
Kyle:I think I think overhead lines actually last longer than underground too. I think it's, like, 50 years
Ashley:Sorry. What?
Kyle:That the overhead lines can last.
Ashley:Yeah. In the bathroom.
Kyle:But the underground ones are, like, 20.
Ashley:Oh, what?
Kyle:It's, like, substantially longer. I used to confuse, Ashley.
Ashley:Because Caleb just asked me for Kleenex, and I have toilet paper.
Kyle:Is he wiping his ass with Kleenex?
Ben:How do you have both
Kyle:nose? I'm so confused right now. K.
Caleb:I asked
Ben:him to learn about your job, Kyle. You said the underground lines last longer?
Kyle:Shorter, I think. Shorter? Yeah. I'm pretty sure. And which you you would almost think it's the opposite.
Ben:But, no, I can understand that because there's a lot more moisture. Like, the moisture holds around the lines underground. Right. And so they above ground, they actually can dry out and stuff. But the ones below ground, they eventually
Kyle:Right.
Ben:Get deteriorated because of all the other stuff underground. Like, moisture is constantly around them.
Kyle:Well, the ones underground, I think, are more prone to, you know, damages as well. Yeah. You know, like I don't know.
Ben:The ones above ground have trees and all that stuff that can hit them squirrels.
Kyle:Yeah. They got weather and stuff like that. Weather. You know? Underground, you know, you got people that dig.
Kyle:Yeah. You know? And you got, like,
Ben:I guess in underground, you don't blow as many transformers probably too. Right.
Kyle:Yeah. The those things just randomly seem to blow, seems like.
Ashley:Yeah. So to find these underground lines, what type type of equipment do you use?
Kyle:So we call them, like, transmitters and receivers. So the transmitters, we hook up to the utility box or gas meter, whichever it is. So we have gas, and, or, well, for gas meters we have, plastic or steel services. So like for steel we just hook right up to the meter. For plastic we have to find a tracer wire which runs with the plastic, that's the only way to locate it because plastic is not conductive, and our, transmitters, when we hook them up it sends like a frequency down the line, and that's what our receivers pick up that we use in our hands.
Kyle:People call them wands. It's almost like a metal detector, but it's not.
Ben:Mhmm.
Kyle:So we use those. And then, you know, for electric, we hook the transmitter up just to the electric box on the house or, you know, a transformer, whatever. And, they're all grounded, so that's how we're able to, you know, pick up the tone. Yeah. But if it's not grounded properly, then we have some problems.
Kyle:The most common for gas is, like, a broken tracer wire, because if it's broken, you only get to a certain spot, and then you can't find it after that. So then, you know, that that that causes some issues too. But, you know
Ashley:But you also have things on your computer.
Kyle:Yeah. We have, like, blueprints and stuff, and then that's that's how we get tickets from Diggers hotline as well. Streetlight shock you? Yeah. I I I I've been shocked by a streetlight before.
Kyle:It's, well, my you can also get shocked by your equipment as well. So, like, if your foot's, like, sweaty or wet, and you touch, like, the ground and the the other one, it'll just, like, lock your muscles, and you can't let go of them. And, you know, for street lights, you know, those are there's, like, always a hot wire in there. And if you touch that one, you're you're gonna get, you know, really zapped. Yeah.
Kyle:I think we heard the story one time, didn't we?
Ben:Yeah. When when
Caleb:Aaron when Aaron was Yeah.
Ben:It was a clip about it a street lights eclipse. If you're
Caleb:intrigued about that story, go check out the the what's Aaron What's that? Contract where
Ashley:Yep. Yeah.
Ben:What's Erin contract? So, yeah,
Caleb:go check out episode 10.
Kyle:Yeah. This is episode, what, 14? 13. Or 13? Okay.
Kyle:Yeah. So, yeah, we have, like, blueprints on our laptops, you know, company phone. The best part is probably a company car. You know, we don't gotta use our own gas money for that. Must be nice.
Kyle:It is pretty nice. I think that's one of the things that's keep that keeps me going every day at that job as a company car. You mean
Ben:you don't gotta drive the train in Milwaukee for 3 days and don't get paid for gas?
Caleb:Hey. Pray about it.
Kyle:I was
Ashley:gonna say I drive 30 minutes, 5 days a week.
Ben:That's your fault.
Ashley:That's your fault. So the importance of your job. I mean, it sounds very important. It holds a damage prevention specialist.
Ben:He's a home he's a
Caleb:hometown hero. Heard about that too.
Kyle:Straight up hometown hero.
Ashley:What makes your job so important for the community and people?
Caleb:Heroic, if you will. Well, we,
Kyle:prevent people from getting killed. So, I mean, those of you that are from Wisconsin have probably heard of the Sun Prairie accident with the gas explosion.
Ben:Didn't that make
Caleb:national news?
Kyle:It might have.
Ben:Or at least regional news for sure. National. That's a big event. Explosions are So
Ashley:if people don't know, go ahead and touch into it.
Kyle:Yep. Let's just look up, like, Sun Prairie gas explosion or something.
Caleb:Give us dates, man.
Kyle:Basically, there was a they were doing roadwork or something, and they contracted a group out to do some of the work. And then so then that that crew called in a diggers hotline ticket, and someone mismarked one of the street lights. Are they they were locating the gas line, but they marked it as a street light, and then that group subcontracted their work, and the other the the crew that they subcontracted didn't call in their own diggers hotline ticket, so it was never found and fixed. So they ended up, hitting the gas line, and this building filled up with gas, and then it found a source of ignition and then just blew up the entire building.
Ashley:That's so scary.
Kyle:And then, killed a firefighter, I believe.
Caleb:The chief.
Kyle:Was it the chief?
Caleb:Pretty sure it was the chief, wasn't it? I don't remember.
Ben:I know it killed the firefighter. I remember. But I'm
Caleb:pretty dead. He wasn't, like, a captain or a chief or something.
Kyle:Yeah. He he was a higher up.
Ben:I doubt a chief. They're not usually inside stuff.
Kyle:He was higher up. I know that.
Caleb:I know he was, like, deemed a hero because of the position he held, and that he was still trying to actively save lives.
Kyle:Yeah.
Caleb:I mean, I think once a firefighter, always a firefighter. I don't think it matters your role. It comes
Ben:down to the There's danger.
Caleb:There's danger people as you try to get people out.
Kyle:That's true. Right. And then, you know, we also, protect, like, people from, like, hitting, like, an electric line and getting electrocuted. You know, so that's also you know, goes same way with gas. You know?
Caleb:But I mean, on the same token, I feel like your job too is also crucial to, like, you know, power doesn't go out to a manufacturing company or, god forbid, a hospital.
Kyle:Right.
Caleb:I'm sure there's generators, but, you know Yeah.
Kyle:There's generators.
Caleb:Only for so long. You know?
Kyle:Exactly. Yeah. Well, so some companies don't even have generators.
Caleb:Yeah.
Kyle:We do. So, like, if the if the power gets hit, you know, that we whoever's responsible has to pay for the downtime of the company. Yeah. You know, because they're not doing anything.
Ben:Because I know if our if our power goes on to our shop, our machines would crash and cause a lot of problems when the power goes off with them.
Kyle:Oh, yeah. Yeah. I believe it.
Caleb:If our power goes out, nothing necessarily bad happens, but we still don't want it to happen. It's an impact to our business.
Kyle:Right. Yeah. That's that's true. Is your do the grills run on power? Or are those
Caleb:No. Gas.
Kyle:Is it gas? Yeah. Okay.
Ben:But if they have any timers or anything, those are all My POS machines.
Kyle:Mhmm. Computer systems.
Caleb:Yeah. Yeah. My Internet.
Kyle:That's true.
Caleb:My entire server for my POS system runs on electricity. So Mhmm. Oh, No. A point of sale, Ashley.
Ashley:I woulda never guessed that. Really? No. Really? So why I will never be a waitress.
Ben:Well, I hope you're not a waitress at the master's jury.
Ashley:I mean, she would be surprised.
Caleb:I guess. Per side income or main income. But, also, POS is I mean, that's what any terminal is.
Kyle:Then it must be, like, someone going,
Caleb:a cashier uses is a POS.
Kyle:And it must be, like, someone going to school for, like, a to be to be like a cop and then working for a utility company.
Ashley:Are you throwing shade at somebody you know?
Ben:Or throw shade yourself. Yeah.
Kyle:No. No. Someone else that we know, though.
Caleb:I mean, partially himself.
Ben:I I was like, because didn't you start to go to a cop and then quit?
Caleb:Yes. Yes. He went
Kyle:to school. But
Caleb:In the beginning phases.
Kyle:Right. Yeah. But it it was someone else. Ashley knows who.
Ben:This is terrible podcast, so just keep talking.
Caleb:Oh.
Ben:This is terrible podcast. So I'll just keep going to your job.
Caleb:Okay.
Ashley:Challenges you find about the job?
Kyle:I'd say difficult homeowners, contractors, locating problems in general. I mean, you know,
Ashley:it's type of locating problems?
Kyle:I explained it earlier.
Ashley:Oh, okay.
Ben:Houses with overhangs, you knock yourself out.
Kyle:Tracer tracer problems and house parts of the house that can knock you out.
Ashley:So what happened with that one?
Kyle:Don't remember. Why don't you remember? I'm knocked out.
Ashley:K. Give us the scenario before you forget.
Ben:Then after when you wake up.
Kyle:Well, I I went to go I hooked up to the electric meter, and I went to go stand up, and the house had, like, a partition that came out. And then I I don't know. I I was on the ground. Yeah. I thought someone knocked my ass out, honestly.
Kyle:And, was like, man, I I don't remember being that tired. Oh, god. I I just kept on chugging along.
Caleb:Do you
Kyle:know how long you were down for? No clue. It was probably an
Caleb:unhealthy thing. Light, and then it was dark. Yeah.
Ashley:The homeowner's like, oh, gosh. Dang it. This crack head again.
Ben:There's another one out there.
Caleb:I imagine. Another locator. I didn't even Dave,
Ben:there's another locator out there.
Kyle:I used to imagine, like, someone in their house and just, like like, there's just, like, a loud thud, and they're like, what
Ben:the hell was that? Another another bird must hit the window. Yeah.
Ashley:What what would you say do you like to work in, like, the urban or rural areas?
Kyle:Give or take. Because, I mean, sometimes the rural areas, have, like, long lengths of, like, stuff we have to mark, like like, you know, like a like a gas main or something or, like, a long electric line. Otherwise, like, city ones, so, you know, those are pretty congested sometimes, so we might have, like, a lot to mark there. Other times, they might be clear, like, if they're overhead and stuff. You know, it it just kinda differs, I guess.
Kyle:You know? I kinda like the rural ones because there's less people that bother me, and I'm not really a people person. Like, I just kinda, you know, like, doing my own thing and then getting out of there. You know? But, you know, it's it's 5050, I'd say.
Kyle:What was what was your favorite experience you had working for the company, Caleb? If you had 1 or, like, a memorable you had a car hit a house?
Caleb:I did have a car
Kyle:hit a house. Upon that picture.
Caleb:Did you?
Kyle:Yeah. The picture you sent me of the gas meter.
Caleb:Oh, yeah.
Ben:You saw a car hit a house?
Caleb:No. So right around the time chem tool happened, me and Kyle have the scanners going in our cars, and we are on the phone with each other.
Kyle:Yeah.
Caleb:And we heard a page out for a carvy house with gas meter hit.
Kyle:Mhmm. But, you know, just our luck, they have to hit the gas meter.
Caleb:Yeah. And it was my route, my side of town. So I actually beat a lion there.
Ben:So just, like, self dispatch yourself?
Caleb:I did because I knew it was coming. Oh, perfect. Literally showed up. A lion showed up, like, 2 minutes later, and they were, like, we were gonna call you. I was like, I figured.
Caleb:They were like, how'd you hear about it? And I was like, long story. And that was after, like, the rush of, like, oh, shit. We gotta get this gas turned off. Because, but, like, it was tough to locate because it was steel, I wanna say.
Kyle:Like mango.
Caleb:I couldn't get a a good locate on it. So I just guesstimated as best as I could. And Alliant ran with it and was able to use my marks to get the gas shut off. I was a hero that day.
Kyle:You were
Ben:the hometown hero that day.
Caleb:I was the hometown hero that day.
Kyle:Yeah. And then, you know, we we have, like, a on call rotation too. So, like, last week, I, you know, it goes from Monday, 1 week to Monday morning the next week.
Caleb:Kyle always tried to get me to go to his calls for him.
Ashley:Kyle pounds off a lot of his on call.
Caleb:Oh, I know.
Kyle:I hate the overnight ones. Well, not so much now because I have a actual headlamp that's bright. But, like, before, I mean, it sucked. Because then I'd have to use, like, the flashlight on my phone, and it just wasn't very good at all. But you always get that one drunk person or multiple that just seems to find the one utility pole to smoke that has stuff coming down at that we have to mark, or there's gas by it or something.
Kyle:Mhmm. So, like, last week's was a a guy running from the cops in his car, and he wrecked his car right into a pole. And I had to mark a gas main and a electric service. I think that controlled, it controlled something.
Ashley:Never mind. I don't think that yes. It was. Nope. I mean What day was that?
Caleb:Saturday.
Ashley:Okay. This was a different incident? Yeah. Monday night.
Kyle:Sometimes we respond, you know, like, for, like, a diggers hotline emergency that, you know, like, someone died in, like, an accident or something. So, like, what?
Caleb:What's Stiggers hotline?
Kyle:811. It's, what? What's 811? Stiggers hotline. Yeah.
Caleb:What's FIGR's what's FIGR's hotline?
Ashley:811. Okay. So okay. Wrap this up.
Kyle:So
Ashley:Short of the story.
Ben:Can you explain what Diggers hotline is to me besides
Caleb:811? 5.
Kyle:So for Diggers hotline, you would call 811, and, you would make, like, a dig ticket, like a diggers hotline ticket. Yeah. So, like, let's say if you wanna put, like, a in ground pool in, you'd call them, say, you know, what you want marked. So, like, the backyard or something.
Ben:So if I wanna put an outhouse there with a tank below it, I could do that too called there's hotline they want marked for me?
Kyle:So any so excavation is as simple as, you know, moving a rock. That could be considered, you know, excavation. So moving, like, a boulder or something, that's that's excavation. So anytime you're gonna put a shovel in the ground or move the earth of any kind, you know, you you have to call Diggers hotline.
Ashley:So, like, when we pull out our bushes in the front, I'm gonna do a ticket.
Ben:Yep. Why can't you just have him marked it?
Ashley:Well, I could probably The
Kyle:legal way.
Ashley:The legal. Yeah. Okay. Plus, I also need my waterline marked because that goes straight out there.
Kyle:That's that's deep, though. But why
Ben:do you need that mark? Because you're not just pulling bushes out.
Caleb:Right. But you're moving the earth.
Ben:Yeah. So okay. So So what's the Our
Kyle:gas line goes right right through the bushes. So what what
Ben:what are you gonna do about it? You're not digging. You're just pulling the bushes out. You're gonna pull it straight out. Right.
Ben:Digging.
Kyle:But you should probably expose the line first, but, I mean, I'll I'll tell you right now, I'm not exposing that far down. Water and sewer is deep enough. The roots aren't gonna go down there. It is
Ben:a feel like 60.
Kyle:Bush. Maybe a tree, but, like, not a bush. Gas lines and electric lines are, like, 3 to 4 feet deep.
Ben:I never understood, like, pulling the tree and bush out. So you're saying that you should expose the line mix. There's nothing wrapped around it.
Kyle:Yeah. Is
Ben:what you're saying when the stuff that goes underneath it.
Kyle:Yeah. It it's happened before. Like, they'll pull, like, a tree stump out, and then
Ben:they Like, your damage you got?
Kyle:Yep. And the electric line gets ripped out with it. Yeah. That was unfortunate.
Ben:Okay. Does that makes more sense? I've never understood why they want you to mark it. Because now you're gonna Yeah. Cut it around the root or just wanna dig down the seed.
Kyle:They call in Diggers hotline tickets for stump grinding. Just to call you know, just to grind the stump.
Ben:Oh, that's interesting. So you're really not tearing up any dirt at all there. No. You're literally just grinding some time. Alright.
Kyle:Yeah. It's kinda weird, but I don't know. I've had tickets for people to bury their pets.
Caleb:Hey. They're still being safe.
Ben:Yeah. They're being safe. Right. They They only bury themselves too.
Kyle:Haven't had one for, you know, burying a body yet.
Ben:Maybe you know of. How do you know they how do you know they just say it was a pet and there was actually a body? That is true.
Kyle:That Well, they said they were putting
Caleb:it in the
Ashley:front yard. Grandma Betty, guys. No biggie.
Kyle:Just put it in the front yard.
Ben:Why'd you just tell her an accident?
Ashley:I just feel like that's what that person Homemade
Ben:ranch dressing in my garage. It's container.
Ashley:Rude.
Caleb:Oh my goodness.
Kyle:Oh, explain the rabbit hole you went down.
Caleb:Yeah. So Do you want me to bring it up? In a second.
Ben:Yeah.
Caleb:So Get it ready. Going on with this, figures hotline, 811. In Illinois, it's Julie.
Kyle:Minnesota is
Caleb:Gopher State, one call.
Kyle:Yeah. Gopher
Caleb:State. Is Texas 811. Oklahoma is Oakey 811.
Kyle:Missouri is this Missouri 811?
Caleb:Yeah. So it really depends on, like, the state in which you live. And I only found all of this out because last night in preparation for this episode, I was like, I wanna come with prepared with questions. And so I looked up the diggers hotline website, which then took me to the 8 one one website, which then took me to, like the parent organization over all of 811. Because 811 is, I guess, owned by a group called the Common Ground Alliance.
Caleb:Common Ground Alliance? Common Ground Alliance. Never knew that. So I was so so okay. So basically this is how I got to the rabbit hole.
Caleb:I started out at bigger's hotline. Cause I was like, this is a great episode. Like this is gonna be a great episode. We're gonna be talking about like how people can stay safe when they're digging and stuff. Right?
Kyle:Right.
Caleb:And so I was like, I'm going to see just out of morbid curiosity. If diggers hotline has anything where they like, we'll republish this stuff. Right? Grow the pod. Right?
Caleb:Yep. So then that took me to 811 site, which then I found an email for, like, media inquiries, you know? And when I went to that website, it
Ben:was did go down a rabbit hole.
Caleb:Common ground alliance. And I was like, oh, this is interesting. If you care about underground facilities at all, you can join the common ground lines.
Ashley:Did you?
Caleb:I did not. What I did do is I started clicking around the website though and found something called the dirt report. The dirt report. Yes. The dirt report.
Ashley:Such a clever name that
Ben:you use. Right?
Caleb:So what what people there. Report is is it talks about, like, all the different damages and, like, Chicago, one call, I guess, they reduced damages, by 50% in 5 years, which is pretty impressive. I didn't read too much of the report, but what really caught my eye was, and mind you, the dirt report for 2023 is not out yet. So the report I read was 2022. And so we actually I I pulled this picture off of the dirt report.
Caleb:Go ahead and show it there.
Ben:It is. I just did it. Okay. Perfect. Ahead of you.
Caleb:Alright. You can read my mind. And so these are the most common, not most common. These are just all the reasons, the generalized reasons of why a damage occurred on a underground facility.
Kyle:So the colors are color coded. So, like, orange is, like, the utility locator's, fault. The blue is for excavators. Yeah. The dark blue.
Kyle:And then the tealish, the light blue one is for, 8 one one problems that caused it.
Caleb:And there's a miscellaneous column, which we'll get to eventually in this report.
Ben:But God.
Caleb:Yeah. The no notification made to 811 center, which is the homeowner or the property owner or the contractor Yeah. Fault for not calling in a ticket.
Kyle:Yep.
Caleb:20 like, if you round it, 25% of all damages hap that happened in 2022. 5000.
Ashley:I'm honestly not surprised by that number.
Caleb:I'm not either. I I expect it to be a little higher.
Ben:All over the US. Right?
Caleb:US and Canada.
Ben:US and Canada.
Caleb:So the the the Common Ground Alliance is over Canada and the US. In US, it's 811. Okay. I don't know what it is in Canada.
Ben:It's probably, like, 211 or something like that.
Caleb:I don't know. But, so this is numbers from Canada and the United States.
Ben:That's that's crazy. So 35,000 people who had damages and didn't call.
Caleb:Almost
Ben:36,000. Almost 36. Yeah. That's a
Caleb:lot of people. And then
Ashley:in case you wanna know, in Canada, it's call slash click before you dig.
Ben:What's the okay.
Kyle:Well, because you can fill out a digger's hotline ticket either by phone
Ashley:or the website. 639228.
Caleb:Oh, that's a short code.
Kyle:Yeah. Jesus.
Ashley:But the national call before you dig is 811. Digging digging in Canada, call 811.
Caleb:Okay. So it's still 811. It's true. Okay. No.
Caleb:I just I found this actually kind of informative. Kyle, you can probably speak on a lot more of these causes and probably some things you've actually experienced in the field more than I could, honestly.
Ben:Right.
Ashley:I think you should talk about the contractor story about the guys getting shocked with a shovel.
Kyle:Oh my god.
Ben:Oh, I know this one. You should
Kyle:Guys were idiots. So I had just been to this house earlier that day to mark for, like, a cable install or something and got home around, like, 3 or 4. And then my supervisor called me. He's like, hey. Can you or he's like, hey.
Kyle:Have you been to, you know, this road? And I'm like, yeah. I was just out there today. He goes, well, can you swing back out there? They hit something.
Kyle:I'm like, oh, okay. So I go out there, and the guys had shovels, which is okay. So when we do markings, you can't use machinery within 18 inches of the paint
Caleb:On either side.
Kyle:On either side, but you can use shovels. So you can only hand dig within 18 inches of the of the line. So they had shovels, and they were digging, and they thought they hit a tree root. And so they hit it, and they got shocked. So then what do these geniuses do?
Kyle:They hit it again intentionally to verify that it wasn't a tree root, and they got shocked again. And then they freaked out. Like, it happened the first time. Like, it shocked them the first time, and then they just assume that a normal tree root does that.
Ben:Like, how can you not
Ashley:talk to them? Didn't believe themselves. They're like, I don't think that was a a real shot.
Ben:But, again, how can you not tell it to do a tree root in that line? Isn't it like a isn't it like a bright colored conduit?
Kyle:No. It's it's black with a red stripe.
Ben:So you didn't see the red stripe?
Kyle:Apparently not.
Ben:Fruit's aren't usually black either.
Kyle:Right. Apparently They hit it and everything.
Ben:This is smooth too. Right? Mhmm. Yeah. The chairs aren't smooth.
Kyle:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're bumpy.
Ben:Yeah. Oh my god.
Ashley:I remember we were gonna meet after I got off of work to go to dinner, and I had to sit there and wait for you.
Kyle:Yeah. Yeah. I was like, yeah. Because I walked up. I'm like, oh, I bet you guys got pretty scared, and that's when they told me that story.
Kyle:So I called my supervisor. I'm like, hey, man. You're not gonna believe this. And he's like, what is it? And I told him, and he and he sighed again.
Kyle:And he's like, alright. But, like, it wasn't my fault. Like, my my marks were on, but they just hit it thinking it was a tree root. Like, I don't know how you fucked that up, but they found a way.
Ben:And how hard did they hit it to break through the conduit? Because that's just it's usually pretty strong, isn't it, with the shovel?
Kyle:So sometimes it's buried in conduit. Other times, it's direct buried. So if it's direct buried, it's not in conduit. Oh, okay. It's just, like, the line itself.
Kyle:Mhmm. The conduit is just like an extra protective layer.
Ben:You know? Always put conduit.
Kyle:Right. So, like, a lot of the older underground services are direct buried. Okay. But, if you ever see, like, a big ass, like, industrial spool
Caleb:Mhmm.
Kyle:That's black and it it it usually has, like, a red stripe on it, that's the conduit.
Ben:That's the conduit. Okay.
Kyle:So they bury that first, and then they put the electric inside of it. So you know?
Ben:I don't know. People are dumb.
Kyle:But there's you know, the other alternative way, which is a lot safer, is, hydrovacing. So they use, like, a it's it's like a big shop vac, and they use, like, a pressure washer, and they cut away at the ground, and then the vacuum sucks up the, you know, the water and dirt and stuff.
Ben:Dude, is that what is that what they have stored in Sullivan there now? At the substation? Yeah.
Kyle:Maybe. They have
Ben:a big thing with certain black holes on it.
Kyle:Well, they're doing work out there. Yeah. Yeah.
Ben:Because there's 2 companies out there now.
Kyle:Yeah. So there's Eylertson. Yep. The other one with the one
Ben:with the thing that looks like the big back.
Kyle:Yep. And then and then the JNR. So that job is real weird because Eilerson is just doing, like, like, they're doing most of the work, and then j and r is just going under the road.
Ben:Well, I haven't seen J and R there yet. I've just seen the Eilerson brand.
Kyle:Oh, yeah. There's Eilerson, but then so they're working on so it's Alliance Substation. Yep. But then you have Michaels.
Ben:I was saying Michaels is also the
Kyle:It's like their yard. Yeah. And then you have J and R that's gonna do part of the work, and it it's just, like, real weird. I was
Ben:like, how many people are they contracting work out to? So
Kyle:so they contracted InterCon to do the planning for it, and then they contracted J and R to shoot under the road, and then they contracted Eilertsen to do the rest of it. That's not under the road. And then Michael's is just there to keep their poles there and stuff that they're gonna replace. It's it's real weird.
Caleb:What?
Ben:Yeah. Yeah.
Kyle:It's I'll tell
Ashley:you what, it looks like. Cherry picking their each company's specialty.
Ben:Yeah.
Ashley:Like, what they're really, really good at.
Ben:Here's why can't that other company just go
Kyle:into the road? What
Ben:Well so special about going into the road that they can't do?
Kyle:Usually, for installing electric over in this area, j and r does the whole thing.
Ben:Yep.
Kyle:So, like, services for houses, you know, j and r does it. Yeah. I don't know why they're they don't just have them do the entire thing because they've done it before. So, like, I don't know why they're not doing that.
Ben:Maybe they're too busy to do that. It's like I don't know.
Kyle:Part of it? Maybe. That's so weird. It's real weird. Yeah.
Kyle:I I don't get it. But, yeah, it's it's a big old mess over there. I I was out there a couple days ago.
Ben:I drive past every day for work and I think
Kyle:it was Friday I was out there.
Ben:It just seem like they keep getting more and more vehicles over there.
Kyle:Yeah. Yeah. They're just building up vehicles.
Ben:Yeah. And the people wonder why electricity is so high. They're contracting all 3 different companies to do one job.
Kyle:Yeah. Right? Yeah. Because then yeah. So you had those problems that caused damages.
Kyle:And some of them, I'm surprised, weren't higher too. You know? But Yeah.
Caleb:Let's switch gears here for a second. K. I'm curious. Having actually worked in the industry, I can understand a little bit better. But for, like, Ben and Ashley, and, like, anyone else listening, let's say a damage occurs, gas leak, someone hits a gas, you know.
Ben:Yeah. No. Yeah. Okay.
Caleb:How quickly is the response gonna be to to get out there and get that whole thing rectified?
Kyle:So when they hit it, usually, it's the first responders, like firefighters, paramedics, cops. You know? But we're usually show up first.
Ben:We're usually not shutting anything off. We're usually just clearing the area.
Kyle:Yeah.
Ben:That's about it.
Kyle:So they show up, clear the area. You know? And then they'll call, you know, the energy company, whoever's it is, to go out there, and then they shut it off. And then once they shut it off, then they call 811, and then they have us go out there. You know?
Kyle:So
Caleb:So from first call to locator showing up on-site to help rectify the issue
Kyle:I'd say maybe an hour.
Caleb:An hour?
Kyle:I I think so. Yeah. That's about what I've noticed anyway.
Caleb:Okay.
Kyle:You know, like, there was there was the one I was in Geneva National, and I heard sirens, and I'm like, oh, I wonder where they're going. And then it was, like, 30 minutes later, I got a diggers hotline emergency for a
Ben:So I got a question.
Kyle:Gas hit.
Ben:What how long do you have to get to that call?
Kyle:Usually, like, an hour. So they'll call in, like, a 1 hour emergency. It can't be any shorter, but it's only 1 hour. So they have to wait for us to go out there to market in order for them to do the digging. If they just are doing the digging without us going out there or before we show up or anything, then let's say they hit something, then it's on them.
Kyle:So we call that jumping the ticket. So let's say they call 1 in at 1 o'clock and it's not due till 2, and they start digging at 1:30 and they hit an electric line, then the damage is on them, and they're responsible to pay for that. But what if it's their
Ben:own line?
Kyle:Still? They gotta pay for their own line then? So what
Caleb:happens if your marks are on the ground? Your marks were off, but it was still before.
Kyle:Then it's on us.
Caleb:It is?
Kyle:Even
Caleb:though the ticket's not due yet?
Kyle:Yeah. So they can dig. If we show up before the ticket is due, they can do the digging once we're done, and we tell them, like, hey. Our stuff's marked. Like, you're you're good to go, then they can start digging.
Kyle:If, if we go out there and we're still marking and they hit it, then I'm not quite sure who it would be on. I feel like it would be on them still, because we weren't entirely done before they started digging, but I'm not entirely sure on that.
Ashley:You just spray one mark down, and then they're like,
Ben:there it is. There it is. Yep. They're saying they're waiting
Kyle:for the color of machinery.
Ashley:Okay. So Yeah. Follow-up on your marks. What do all the different colors mean that are keep like, you see all the different colored legs, and it looks like a rainbow, and little kids love the flags.
Kyle:So red is electric. Yellow is gas. Orange is telecommunications. Green is sewer. Blue is water.
Kyle:Pink and white are just like how contractors
Caleb:Pink is survey. White is the area.
Kyle:Right. Yeah. So so white white is like a like like, a lot of contractors will use white to show, like, where their route is. So let's say they're doing, like, a sewer install or a force main or something, or an electric install. They'll put, like, white paint on the ground, and they'll, you know, paint it to wherever they're going.
Kyle:And then that's where their route is. But, yeah, pink is, like, survey and stuff like that. Yeah. I feel like there's another color, but I don't
Caleb:Red, yellow, green, blue, pink, white. No. I think that's it.
Kyle:Yeah. I mean, we have black well, yeah. I said orange.
Caleb:Oh, did you?
Kyle:Well, I I have black paint too, but that's just to cover up, like, marks that are wrong. So, you know, I use white sometimes too. Like like, if there's a damage, I use white to show where the actual line is compared you know? So and I use it to circle for the pictures and stuff like that. So
Ben:Gotcha. So white is just more of like an outline color.
Kyle:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because we don't use white to mark anything besides that. Mhmm.
Kyle:You know?
Caleb:So what would you recommend someone do if they were gonna move around?
Kyle:Diggers, I guess. I mean, that that's the legal way. I mean, it'd be inconvenient for us, but, you know Well, with the goes underground.
Caleb:Could you imagine getting into the big rock out of this?
Ashley:What's the silliest call you've ever gotten? Where you're like, did you really need me?
Ben:Oh, the birdhouse. The bird feeder. Okay. Wife.
Kyle:Started yeah. Don't get me started on that.
Ben:Okay. Alright.
Ashley:Now you have to tell it.
Caleb:Yeah. You do. I had
Kyle:to get for a for a bird birdhouse install, which okay. Because they put, like, a post in the ground. So fine. Whatever. Go out there.
Kyle:And the the guy comes out, and he's talking to me. He's like, oh, yeah. My wife wants it out there. He's like, if you want, you know, I'll bring her out. You can meet her.
Kyle:I'm like, no. No. It's fine. Like, I I don't have to meet her. Like, it's I'm just here to do my work.
Kyle:And he's like, no. No. I I insist. I insist. I'm like, okay.
Kyle:Fine. Dude comes walking out with an urn. His wife was cremated in this urn, and he's like, alright, honey. Here's the utility locator. And, like, I didn't know what what the fuck to say.
Kyle:I'm like, hello. Like, I said hello to a fucking urn.
Ashley:Do you think he was, like, joking just to try and, like, get you to laugh? Or do you think smirk at all. He was, like, a 110% serious. Something's wrong with this dude.
Kyle:I would've broke character the second that the utility locator said hi to my dead wife, and he was straight faced the whole time. He's like he's like, what?
Ben:That's the thing. Some people could be straight faced and be joking too, though. Yeah.
Kyle:He joked about other things and laughed. Like, he was like, oh, yeah. I don't know where she wants to put it, but, you know, it's back there. It was, like, you know, laughing and stuff, brings his wife out, just nothing. Oh.
Kyle:I'm like, what is going on? I mean, it was crazy.
Ben:Yeah. I don't know.
Kyle:That is the most wall worth thing I've ever seen.
Caleb:The most wall worth thing.
Ben:Not know what to do in this situation.
Kyle:It was so awkward. I I was like, do I say hello? Like, I I feel like it would be an insult if I didn't.
Ben:But you don't wanna laugh because what if it's not funny?
Kyle:Well, at the time, like, I thought I I really thought he was fucking with me. And I was like, hi. I'm Kyle. Like, does he remark for your birdhouse? Like, how is his wife gonna put that in the ground?
Kyle:She she can't even stand. You know? It was crazy. I I've never seen one, like, I I still remember that house too. I could probably go out there, but I don't wanna talk to him and his wife again.
Ben:Maybe I'll just shake the ladies' hand this time.
Caleb:Did
Kyle:the Show off my hand in the urn? Hey. Nice to meet you.
Caleb:Did they, need it to be marked? Was there utilities around where he wanted to do the
Kyle:thing? Yeah. There was, like, 2 electric lines, I think. Nice.
Caleb:Oh, well,
Ben:they're deep enough.
Kyle:He's in the
Ben:head now with the birdhouse.
Kyle:I know. Right?
Ben:Depends on
Caleb:how low he wanted to go with it.
Kyle:I know.
Ben:I mean,
Kyle:if it's only like a
Ben:shepherd hook, they're only like, what?
Caleb:It depends on how deep he wanted to go with it. Yeah.
Kyle:I don't know why he couldn't
Caleb:just put a shepherd hook. Wife wanted to go.
Kyle:Yeah. I think the only thing
Ben:I'd be worried about hitting with the bird feeders, like, cable or fiber optics. That's they don't put that very deep.
Kyle:Cable, they put, like, just under the grass. Like the same way? 2 inches.
Ben:Is fiber the same way or are they very fiber?
Kyle:So fiber drops, which are like cable drops
Ben:Yep.
Kyle:They're usually about the same, maybe a little deeper. But if it's, like, mainline for cable or fiber, it's usually, like, 3 feet down. Okay. About the same as gas and electric. So those are unfortunate to mark for too, but it's gotta get done.
Kyle:You know? Yeah. You know, survey work, we're not too strict on either just because, you know, it's just a survey. They're not digging. Mhmm.
Kyle:Like, same with, like, planning tickets. Like, they're just planning, so they wanna know what all is there, but they're not digging. And I don't think they can even dig on a planning ticket to begin with. I think for a survey ticket, technically, they can, but they never knew. Like, there's nothing to dig for.
Kyle:They're just They're
Caleb:just trying to mark out the utilities for a map.
Kyle:Yeah. So, you know, there's, like, different, you know, different things.
Ben:You said a planning one they can't dig on? Yeah. What's the difference between the planning and the survey?
Kyle:Planning, they're just planning what work is going on and, like, where the lines are.
Ben:What's the difference from your end of it? Like, why can't they not dig on that, but they can't on that one?
Kyle:Because it's not a normal locate ticket. Like so we have, like, different ones that come in. So we have, like, relocates, which is ones that we have marked in the past, and they need the marks refreshed. Yeah. And then we have routine ones, which are normal just normal dig dig tickets and stuff.
Kyle:And then planning locates, they're, you know, like, they're just kind of planning the work. They're not digging, but they're just getting, like, a rough idea of where stuff is, but they can't actually dig on it unless they have an actual dig ticket. Okay. So, yeah, it's kinda it's kinda weird. I know I think it's Canada.
Kyle:I think every piece of work that goes on, I think they have to have the route painted.
Caleb:Oh, that'd be nice.
Ashley:That's gonna be nice.
Kyle:I know. And we we can't even get that here. Right. I mean, sometimes they'll mark the route, but I mean
Caleb:You gotta be, like, good with the contractor in order for that to happen.
Kyle:Right. You know? I mean, I I have a good relationship with with with one of the contractors, but, you know, usually, I'll just meet up with him or something or he'll give me, like, prints, and I go off of that. But
Caleb:You get sweatshirts?
Kyle:Yeah. I get sweatshirts. He gives me sweatshirt every Christmas.
Caleb:I got tacos.
Kyle:That is true. You got tacos.
Caleb:Oh, Cheggos is tough.
Ben:That's tough to beat. What's that? Tacos is tough to beat.
Kyle:Oh, it always is. Authentic ones. Like, not not that Taco Bell shit.
Caleb:He bought our tacos one time too.
Kyle:Yeah. Yeah. You and me were just eating tacos, and he came in. And he
Caleb:So you paid for those yet? No. Okay.
Kyle:Tell my tell.
Caleb:Did he
Ben:pay them?
Kyle:Yeah. Mostly.
Caleb:Yeah. He was an awesome contract. But, I mean, I was there for him too. So
Kyle:Right.
Caleb:If you're there for them, like, if they call you and you're there, lickety split. They love you.
Kyle:Yeah. Split. What? What are you He's
Ben:just a lickety split.
Caleb:Oh. Yeah. Like an old person shut
Kyle:up. Well, it's important to have good relationships with them too because they can make your life a living hell. But if you're cool with them, you know, like, you know
Caleb:You could get out of
Ben:a damage if you're cool
Caleb:with them.
Kyle:They'll make your life, you know, easy peasy. You know?
Ben:Didn't work for you, did it?
Caleb:I wasn't cool with all the contractors. No.
Kyle:No. He wasn't cool with one of the locators.
Caleb:No. I I I don't know how.
Kyle:You met him once, and he
Caleb:just I met him once
Ben:in Woolworth,
Caleb:and he just didn't like me.
Ben:You know?
Ashley:It's not that hard.
Ben:Just just ask my mom about it.
