California Senate Bill 865 (SB 865), introduced and passed in 2020, aims to enhance safe excavation practices in California by requiring all new subsurface installations to be mapped using a geographic information system (GIS) starting from January 1, 2023, except for specific oil and gas flowlines within oil fields. The legislation responds to the need to prevent utility damages, which cost an estimated $30 billion annually in the United States and addresses the inadequacies in current excavation practices that lead to injuries, fatalities, and costly damages. However, the law lacks specific definitions and requirements for GIS data, which could result in inconsistencies and inaccuracies. To address this, the California Underground Safety Board should collaborate with geospatial professionals, including land surveyors and GIS practitioners, to establish clear standards and regulations, with the adoption of the ASCE 75-22 Standard for Recording and Exchanging Utility Infrastructure Data as a potential solution. Additionally, implementing surface utility monuments and verification processes can further enhance utility damage prevention efforts. Ultimately, SB 865 holds the potential to improve excavation safety, but refinements and standardization are essential to its successful implementation.
We will have Amparo Munoz, Chair of the Underground Safety Board and member of the Board’s GIS Mapping Committee, on our December call. She will give a 15-minute presentation:
“The Underground Safety Board’s Geographic Information System (GIS) Mapping Committee is soliciting survey responses from operators about mapping buried infrastructure, including use of GIS software.”
Sidenote: ASCE 75-22 is a starting point with some issues as X,Y,Z data is all stored as one attribute. These should not concatenated.