KorTerra, Inc. Stresses Importance of Safe Digging

Minneapolis, MN (August 29, 2014) – KorTerra Inc., the leading underground utility damage prevention software provider, would like to remind both homeowners and professional excavators about the importance of contacting their state One Call Center before starting any project that requires digging. Every six minutes someone around the country hits an underground utility line. Striking a single line can cause injury, repair costs, fines and inconvenient outages. Every digging project, no matter how large or small, warrants the submission of your dig information to your state One Call Center.

When contacting the One Call Center, homeowners and professional excavators can notify the appropriate stakeholders of their intent to dig by submitting their excavation information. Representatives of these organizations are then sent to the requested digging site to mark the approximate locations of underground lines with flags, spray paint or both. Installing a mailbox, building a deck, planting a tree and laying a patio are all examples of digging projects that should be communicated to a state One Call Center before starting.

“Throughout the year, we remind homeowners and professional excavators alike to contact a One Call Center before digging to eliminate the risk of striking an underground utility line,” said KorTerra President, Chris Stendal. “It really is the only way to know which facilities are buried in your area.”

The depth of utility lines can vary for a number of reasons, such as erosion, previous digging projects and uneven surfaces. Utility lines need to be properly marked because even when digging only a few inches, the risk of striking an underground utility line still exists.

Visit www.call811.com or www.korterra.com for more information about contacting your state One Call Center and safe digging practices.

KorTerra to Unveil its Newest Version of KorWeb at This Year’s KorWeb User Conference

Chanhassen, Minn. (July 25, 2014) – KorTerra, the underground facility damage prevention software provider and One Call Center solutions company, will unveil the newest version of its damage prevention software, KorWeb, at its second annual KorWeb User Conference. This three day conference will include several educational sessions along with one-on-one time with specific KorTerra team members.

As one of the many highlights at this year’s conference, attendees will get a sneak peak at the upgrade of KorWeb, aptly named version 5.0. This session will allow for KorWeb users to not only see the new version of the damage prevention software, which will be implemented for all current users within the coming year, but offers a chance for them to share their development and functionality ideas.

The KorTerra team will also introduce its most recent software release, Incident Manager, the underground damage or near miss case management tool. Special guest speakers, client case studies, damage prevention industry information and future product development brainstorming sessions will be included at this year’s conference as well.

“Following the success of last year’s KorWeb User Conference, we are excited to bring together our KorWeb customers to learn more about how they use KorWeb and advise them on recommended best practices,” said KorTerra President, Chris Stendal.

Along with a user group breakout session, attendees will be given the chance to network with both the KorTerra team and industry peers at conference events including a golf tournament, cocktail hour and a dinner event.

The KorWeb User Conference will take place from Sept. 9-11 at Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake, Minn. To find out more about the KorWeb User Conference or to register, click here. To see highlights from last year’s conference visit KorTerra’s member page by clicking here.

New Call Before you Dig Laws Require Response after Excavation Site has Been Painted and Flagged

Chanhassen, Minnesota (June 25, 2014) – Once every six minutes nationwide, a utility line is damaged by digging. These damages can cause injury and possible death to anyone in the area in question. To help avoid these situations, many states throughout the U.S. have in acted new call before you dig laws to emphasis the importance of safe digging practices. One portion of these laws typically includes a Positive Response law. This requires a locator to send a response to either the excavator or call before you dig/ One Call Center alerting them that a locate has been completed, or area to be excavated has been marked with paint and flags to signify underground utilities in the area of excavation.

KorTerra, the damage prevention industry software provider, added a feature within its KorWeb Ticket Management software that allows for owners and operators of underground utilities the capability of sending a response of a completed locate to both an excavator and One Call Center. This product also allows for the user to monitor their Positive Response messages ensuring that their messages are sent and received.

“ It’s important for owners and operators of underground utilities to not only comply with state and federal laws, but to also ensure that their employees as well as those involved in excavation stay safe,” said KorTerra President, Chris Stendal. “This is why KorTerra created an Automated Positive Response Feature within our KorWeb application. It allows for users to easily send and monitor positive response messages helping to lessen the chance of disastrous line damages.”

Many owners and operators of underground utilities are currently using email and paper tickets to manage their call before you dig tickets. Because of this, it may be difficult to manage positive response to ensure that safe excavation can take place. Using software like KorTerra’s KorWeb Ticket Management, users can automatically send this response upon the completion of a one call ticket, eliminating extra paper work and possible human error.

Introducing Incident Manager, the Web-based Underground Facility Damage Case Management Software

Chanhassen, Minn. (March 10, 2014) – KorTerra, the leading damage prevention software provider and Rhino Marking and Protection Systems, damage prevention tool creators, have teamed up to bring a new product specifically for underground utility damage case management called, Incident Manager. This product was created for damage prevention case managers and owners/operators of underground facilities.

When an underground utility is struck during an excavation, important data is needed for collection before locate paint lines/flags disappear and the damage itself is repaired. This data is essential for any party involved to ensure that an effective investigation is conducted. Incident Manager allows users to collect data quickly and easily using the application at the site of the damage on a mobile device and can be used at the office after that data is collected. Data collected includes:

• Investigative data: this is any perishable data that is taken from the site of the damage that quickly diminishes as time passes.

• Witness interviews: getting interviews from anyone that may have witnessed the damage is incredibly important, that’s why incident manager has a built in module that allows for easy collection of this information.

• Attach photos and other documentation: photos and videos can be taken at the site of the damage and attached to the incident in question.

• Sketches of the site: using the Sketch tool, users can sketch a rendering of the damage over a map on a Smartphone or tablet.

• Original ticket data: Incident Manager allows for users to generate original one call dig ticket information directly from a state One Call Center. Users of KorWeb, KorTerra’s Web-based damage prevention software, can also easily generate ticket information through Incident Managers interface with the software.

When an incident case has been completed, certain parties involved in the case must send required damage reporting information to the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT). Through a direct interface with CGA DIRT, users of Incident Manager can easily send reporting information directly to the reporting tool from the application. Incident summary reports can also be generated for internal business use.

“Accidents happen and with that damages to underground facilities happen. We hope that with the creation of Incident Manager, investigators will be able to collect important information needed in representing their case, allocating costs and learning from accidents in hope of avoiding any future damages,” said KorTerra President, Chris Stendal.

KorTerra and Rhino Marking and Protection Systems are partnering together to offer this software application to the damage prevention community after finding that many companies involved in underground facility damages, sometimes miss the collection of important information during investigation process.

Incident Manager will be demonstrated for the first time at this year’s Common Ground Alliance (CGA) 811 Excavation Safety Conference and Expo at both the KorTerra and Rhino Marking and Protection Systems booths.