Core sample chaos
- Thread starter SpacemanSpiff
- Start date
I guess they shoulda used stronger conduit.
sebastiantombs
Known around here
There's a fiber optic cable buried across my front yard that feeds Joint Base MDL. It goes through everyone's front yards on this side of the street. There are signs every few hundred feet cautioning about digging. I was installing conduit for two cameras in the front yard but nowhere near where the cable goes. They've been out a few times since we moved in marking it's exact location for survey purposes so I know just about where it is and I was well away from in 40 or 50 feet. Early one morning a survey guy showed up and put markers all the way across the front yard where the cable is buried.
I have to assume that he stopped because he saw the trenches on the upper area of the yard. I also assume that the fiber is buried at least three, if not six, feet or deeper and I was trenching with a shovel at about two feet. I also assume they were being very cautious.
How a core sample driller could even think about drilling without checking for buried cable first is beyond me and I sure hope they get the full bill for repair, damages and the outages they caused.
I have to assume that he stopped because he saw the trenches on the upper area of the yard. I also assume that the fiber is buried at least three, if not six, feet or deeper and I was trenching with a shovel at about two feet. I also assume they were being very cautious.
How a core sample driller could even think about drilling without checking for buried cable first is beyond me and I sure hope they get the full bill for repair, damages and the outages they caused.
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Smilingreen
Known around here
I see the data cable, but under the orange sheathing, it looks like there were several SJO or SO "power" cables put in that concrete, too. Looks like a couple of 4 conductor and some 5 conductor cables. I bet somebody shit a brick when they pulled that core up out of the slab.
Smilingreen
Known around here
Maybe all that cable was abandoned in place. Better yet, was it direct burial rated?
The last 20 of my 31 years in traffic signals and street lighting maintenance I had the pleasure <wink wink> of heading up our City's team and responding to "USA" (Underground Service Alert of Northern California) notifications to locate our underground conduits and infrastructure....The old "Call Before You Dig" or "One Call" thing.
IIRC, the story goes that Pacific Bell and PG&E got tired of damages to the underground facilities and disruptions of service due to their lines being cut and/or damaged. They got together with like utilities in So. CA and NV and lobbied their respective legislators to pass laws that put into place the procedure to be followed by EVERYONE, not just contractors, when any power-operated device was used to excavate, bore or dig. The laws provided stiff fines and penalties to those that did not follow the procedures. This included indemnity for a individual that damaged underground facilities accidentally that had been located and incorrectly or inaccurately marked by the USA responder.
In No. CA whenever a contractor took a test to get licensed a couple of questions on the test attempted to insure the applicant new about the "USA" laws, the procedure and their obligations...not a bad idea, IMO, but certainly not a guarantee.
We've all seen videos of people digging into telephone / fiber, water, gas and power lines and understand the physical dangers (like DEATH) and financial burden to a contractor or individual that can result when that happens. We had a $4,000 electronic underground facilities locator device but a backhoe can find anything really quick, sometimes with disastrous and fatal results.
Out of the dozens of times I saw and intervened in violations before there was any damage, my most notable one occurred about 4 years before I retired in '04. I was driving by in a City truck and about 100 feet south of traffic signal in our jurisdiction when I saw two men standing in the Southern Pacific Railroad right of way that was parallel to the roadway holding a 2 man, gas-powered post hole digger. I whipped around, got back there quick, stopped them and pointed out there was a H-U-G-E pad-mounted PG&E transformer about 20 feet behind them. I asked if they knew where the 15KV to 60KV primary lines were and it took a few seconds then both of them got big eyeballs. I went on to inform them of the law and gave them a pamphlet with the info and the phone number. They were brand new employees of commercial sign company that were going to set two 4 x 4 posts for a sign. To begin with I doubt they had any reason or right to be installing anything in the railroad R-O-W.
I'll never know the outcome for those 2 young men if I had not been driving by that specific location at that specific time. They may have missed everything under there...only the good Lord knows.
EDIT: I promise I had not read this post by @biggen before I wrote the above but it reinforces what I said about "call before you dig".
IIRC, the story goes that Pacific Bell and PG&E got tired of damages to the underground facilities and disruptions of service due to their lines being cut and/or damaged. They got together with like utilities in So. CA and NV and lobbied their respective legislators to pass laws that put into place the procedure to be followed by EVERYONE, not just contractors, when any power-operated device was used to excavate, bore or dig. The laws provided stiff fines and penalties to those that did not follow the procedures. This included indemnity for a individual that damaged underground facilities accidentally that had been located and incorrectly or inaccurately marked by the USA responder.
In No. CA whenever a contractor took a test to get licensed a couple of questions on the test attempted to insure the applicant new about the "USA" laws, the procedure and their obligations...not a bad idea, IMO, but certainly not a guarantee.
We've all seen videos of people digging into telephone / fiber, water, gas and power lines and understand the physical dangers (like DEATH) and financial burden to a contractor or individual that can result when that happens. We had a $4,000 electronic underground facilities locator device but a backhoe can find anything really quick, sometimes with disastrous and fatal results.
Out of the dozens of times I saw and intervened in violations before there was any damage, my most notable one occurred about 4 years before I retired in '04. I was driving by in a City truck and about 100 feet south of traffic signal in our jurisdiction when I saw two men standing in the Southern Pacific Railroad right of way that was parallel to the roadway holding a 2 man, gas-powered post hole digger. I whipped around, got back there quick, stopped them and pointed out there was a H-U-G-E pad-mounted PG&E transformer about 20 feet behind them. I asked if they knew where the 15KV to 60KV primary lines were and it took a few seconds then both of them got big eyeballs. I went on to inform them of the law and gave them a pamphlet with the info and the phone number. They were brand new employees of commercial sign company that were going to set two 4 x 4 posts for a sign. To begin with I doubt they had any reason or right to be installing anything in the railroad R-O-W.
I'll never know the outcome for those 2 young men if I had not been driving by that specific location at that specific time. They may have missed everything under there...only the good Lord knows.
EDIT: I promise I had not read this post by @biggen before I wrote the above but it reinforces what I said about "call before you dig".
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SpacemanSpiff
Known around here
I have a friend that works for a large construction firm that quickly embraced vacuum excavating. He said it's a game changer, especially when it comes to working in the cities. Much smaller footprint for the site operation, and a majority of the time they can work around 'all that's buried' with minimal service disruptions. Their prep/planning procedures haven't changed, they still work with utilities and dig safe entities before breaking ground. Clearly the vacuum method is not an option when your dealing with rock, concrete. etc
