Municipalities and Damage Prevention Awareness (Break-out Session on April 20, 2010)

This breakout session discussed the benefits of having municipalities take a damage prevention leadership role in their communities.
Issues:
• Virginia municipalities and their contractors performing excavations were the leading cause of jurisdictional gas damages in 2009 and were involved in 326 damages across the state.

• It is important that Virginia’s county, city, and town officials, and their employees take a leadership role in damage prevention awareness.
- Local Governments are created to serve the public.
- When the public is at risk, it is the duty of localities to do something.
- When underground utilities are damaged, it becomes a locality issue.

• More could be done in counties, cities and towns to promote damage prevention awareness.

• How can we achieve consistency promoting damage prevention awareness by all of Virginia’s counties, cities and towns?

Solutions:
During this breakout session, the attendees reached consensus on the following potential solutions to making municipalities more proactive with their damage prevention awareness programs:

• Staff will arrange a meeting with representatives of VUPS, excavator associations, the Virginia Municipal League (“VML”), and the Virginia Association of Counties (“VACO”), to promote damage prevention leadership, education, and awareness amongst the members of VML and VACO. Additionally, Staff will ask to be put on their upcoming conference agendas to discuss damage prevention related issues.

• Staff will arrange a one day damage prevention seminar in June or July for local government employees and association members to attend and discuss local government’s role in damage prevention. Staff will invite local governments with high number of probable violations of the Act.

• VUPS will begin an active program to encourage local governments to become more involved with Local Damage Prevention Committee Meetings.

• Staff will arrange a damage prevention Train the Trainer Workshop exclusively for local governments with high number of probable violations of the Act.

• VUPS will establish point of contacts with all local governments and provide them with damage prevention education and awareness items.

• Staff will provide damage data to the municipalities with a high number of damages involving their employees or their contractors.

• Municipality employees will interact, on a case by case basis, with probable violators, and when necessary contacting the fire marshal in circumstances involving imminent danger.