Sixth UESI Utility Investigation School Course

This short course will give practitioners the knowledge and tools to provide competent utility investigations in accordance with accepted national standards (ASCE 38) and to defend against claims through this knowledge and its documentation. It will discuss the interface between CO SB 167 and ASCE 38.

The lecture series will include three 10 hour days, with testing. In addition to the classroom lectures, a one day field-practicum, on hands demo, will be held where participants will be offered hands-on experience with the GPR, PCL, and other tools. This 4-day school will be taught by the foremost experts in the geophysics and subsurface utility engineering field.

Monday Dec 16

• Utility Infrastructure in the US and CO: Andrew Sylves
  • types, amounts and complexity of utility systems
  • their interactions in rural, urban and suburban settings
  • materials, typical depths, installation methods 
• Utility Existence and Location Uncertainties: Jim Anspach
  • Utility owner types of records
  • how records are made
  • discrepancies between records
  • differing site conditions case law
  • court decisions
  • common disclaimers
  • how utilities' locations can be determined
• Common Utility System Design/Construction: Jim A., Andrew Sylvest
  • common types of utility systems encountered during an investigation
  • water, gas, electric, telephone, sewer and others will be covered 
  • how these systems are constructed is fundamental to how they can be found
• Introduction to Utility Process Management: Jim Anspach
  • how utilities, owned by others but occupying the public ROW

Tuesday, Dec 17

• What is Geophysics: Jim Anspach / Matt Wolf
  • Overview of the wide range of geophysical
  • methods that exist
• Types of Tools Available to Detect and Map Utilities:
  • Practical theory of why these methods work to find utilities
  • limitations of methods
• Definitions, Utilitiy Quality Levels, & Prof Judgment: Jim A./Andrew S.
  • details on ASCE 38 Utility Quality Levels 
  • how these QLs are obtained 
  • how to make better judgements on avoiding unnecessary utility conflicts

Wednesday, Dec 18

• CO SB 167 Andrew Sylvest, Rep from CO Safety Commission(invited)
  • Genesis of CO SB 167; Implementation issues and challenges
• SUE for Municipalities: Prequal and Scope of Work Guide. Jim Anspach
  • Review of Document
• CDOT’s Perspective on SB 167 and Utility Coordination. Rob Martindale
  • CDOT has developed procedures, policies, scopes of work for the implementation of SB 167 and SUE and UC

Thursday, December 19

• FIELD Practicum
  • Hands on demonstrations of common geophysical equipment from equipment manufacturers 

Certificates for those attending all four days