American Gas - February 2011 - (Page 14)

safety first safet y | securit y | reliabilit y What Lies beneath The Common Ground Alliance is now educating children about preventing damage to underground utilities. since the debut of the national 811 call-before-you-dig number, unintentional hits made on buried underground utility lines have declined as contractors, developers, homeowners and other “diggers” have learned to call 811 to ask that utility line locations be marked before they start a project. in fact, the latest annual damage information reporting tool report issued by the common Ground Alliance (cGA) estimated 170,000 incidents of damage to underground facilities in 2009, down 15 percent from the 200,000 incidents estimated in 2008. Putting the Message on Film In 2010, CGA partnered with Williams Gas Pipeline and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to produce a video program called “Call 811 Before You Dig” to educate the next generation of diggers about the initiative. “The video, which is targeted toward 8- to 11-year-olds, was developed to be used in classrooms, libraries and after-school programs across the nation to raise the awareness of the importance of calling 811 before digging,” notes Tracey Bryant, public safety specialist for Vectren Energy Delivery and co-chair of the CGA Educational Programs, Marketing and Membership Committee’s Video Task Team, which researched, scripted and produced the video and its supporting curriculum. The task team included volunteers from a variety of stakeholder groups. The seven-minute educational video takes two friends, Jenny and Michael, on a journey of learning about what is underground when they go on an afternoon adventure with the playful yet knowledgeable “Pirate Dude.” The journey begins when the kids find a magical spyglass that allows them to see buried utilities when it is turned in a certain direction. The pirate and kids then educate a neighbor about the consequences that can arise from unintentional damage to a buried facility, and the video ends with Jenny and Michael receiving a piece of “buried treasure.” A prominent educational device used throughout the video is a “treasure map” that also whimsically portrays the location of buried utilities in Jenny and Michael’s neighborhood. A full-color version of the map is included as an insert in the DVD case, and the map’s flip side features supporting curriculum, including talking points, questions and additional projects. This supplemental content was designed to enable educators, librarians, troop leaders and others to easily integrate the video into sciKHRYSANNE M. KERR is vice president of Striking even a single line can cause injury, repair costs, fines and inconvenient outages; therefore, every digging project, no matter how large or small, warrants a call to 811. Installing a mailbox, putting in a fence, building a deck and laying a patio are all examples of digging projects that need a call to 811 before a shovel is raised. This is the message publicized by CGA, a member-driven association of nearly 1,400 individuals, organizations and sponsors in every facet of the underground utility industry. Established in 2000, CGA is committed to saving lives and preventing damage to North American underground infrastructure by promoting effective damage prevention practices. 14 february 2011 AmericAn GAs communications and program development for the Common Ground Alliance.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Gas - February 2011

American Gas - February 2011
Contents
Chairman’s Message
Industry News
Safety First
Return on Investment
Be Prepared
Working Smarter
Places to Be
Noteworthies
Advertisers' Index
Jobline
Marketplace
Facts on Gas

American Gas - February 2011