Page 11 - Louisiana 811 Magazine 2020 Issue 4

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She said, “It would be best to already have a plan in place in advance of any disaster. Most of us think we already have a plan, but in the case of Laura, I’m not sure we were as prepared as we needed to be for the impact of a Category 4 hurricane, both in size and destruction. I think we needed
to have a better awareness of the number of people we were going to have to interact with and just who
all the players were. We had a joint utility after action review to discuss how everything went and what we could have done better. Perhaps
we need to set up a mock drill from time to time to ensure the next time disaster strikes, all the players are
on the same page from day 1 instead of day 5. We feel that we executed well on the plan we had in place at CenterPoint Energy, but from a global Damage Prevention view, there are always areas to improve and apply lessons learned from our industry partners.”
Molly was then asked to share any final thoughts she might have about the restoration and clean up efforts. She
shared, “While we were able to protect our facilities with minimal underground damages during the power restoration efforts, the above ground damages
locations where the clean up was to take place and as such, experienced damages to meters and above-ground facilities. This is a safety concern that has been
identified and is part of our ongoing improvement review for our disaster response plan.”
She concluded, “No matter what... routine work, large projects, or disaster recovery, we need to step back from what we’re doing and realize that everything we do revolves about safety. Safety is our number one goal and that’s not just a slogan. Everything we do each day is and has to be about safety. Damage Prevention is about safety of the public, our employees and our facilities. Accurately locating and safe digging is about safety. And
the thread that makes it all work is effective communication.”
You are exactly right, Molly. Talking
to one another should never be a last resort, it should be the first action item on the list. Talking with one another makes it possible to work together and when we work together, we make things work better.
resulting from debris cleanup and home demolitions in the weeks following the storm are areas that we are working to improve our processes and education efforts around. Since these types of work are often considered “above- ground”, there are few if any 811 tickets called in. Since no tickets are called
in, we did not have a good grasp of the
W O R K I N G SAFELY
NEAR UNDERWATER P I P E L I N E S
NEW ONE-HOUR, INTERACTIVE, ONLINE
SAFETY TRAINING
 How, where and when to find information you need
before a project starts;
 Safety and emergency checklists to use daily;
 Do training at your own pace, switching between electronic devices.
2020, Issue 4 Louisiana 811 • 9