Methods and apparatus for protecting underground utilities from excavation damage by assessing risks associated with locate request tickets

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for protecting underground utilities from accidental excavation damage by assessing risk associated with a locate and/or marking operation to detect and/or mark a presence or absence of underground utilities in an excavation area. A locate request ticket generated by a one-call center and describing a locate and/or marking operation is electronically parsed to extract ticket information, and the extracted ticket information is rendered in a standardized computer-readable format (e.g., XML or other standardized format that may be processed by various software components). Historical damage reports for underground facility infrastructure, and/or historical records of previously completed locate request tickets, are retrieved based on the formatted extracted ticket information. A statistical analysis of the historical information is performed to assign a risk designation to the locate request ticket, which facilitates clearing the locate request ticket and/or dispatching a locate technician to perform the locate and/or marking operation.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for assessing risk associated with a locate and/or marking operation specified by a locate request ticket generated by a one-call center, the locate and/or marking operation comprising detecting and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area at a work site, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities at the work site, the apparatus comprising:
 at least one communication interface;   at least one memory to store processor-executable instructions; and   at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one memory and the at least one communication interface, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the at least one processor, the at least one processor:   A) controls the at least one communication interface so as to receive the locate request ticket generated by the one-call center;   B) parses the locate request ticket received in A) so as to extract ticket information obtained from the locate request ticket;   C) performs a statistical analysis of historical information, the historical information being selected based at least in part on the ticket information extracted in B) and including at least one of:
 historical damage reports for underground facility infrastructure; and 
 historical records of previously completed locate request tickets; 
   D) automatically assigns at least one risk designation to the locate request ticket based at least in part on the statistical analysis of the historical information performed in C); and   E) controls the at least one communication interface to transmit, and/or controls the at least one memory to store, the at least one risk designation so as to facilitate clearing the locate request ticket and/or dispatching at least one locate technician to perform the locate and/or marking operation, based at least in part on the at least one risk designation automatically assigned in D).   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one risk designation comprises a numerical score. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor further:
 F) determines at least one dispatch schedule for the locate and/or marking operation based at least in part on the at least one risk designation.   
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor further:
 F) determines at least one billing rule for billing the locate and/or marking operation to a customer based at least in part on the at least one risk designation.   
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor further:
 F) determines at least one resource requirement based at least in part on the at least one risk designation, wherein the at least one resource requirement comprises at least one of:
 a technician skill requirement of the at least one locate technician to be dispatched; and 
 an equipment requirement for at least one piece of equipment to be used by the dispatched at least one locate technician during the locate and/or marking operation. 
   
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the ticket information extracted in B) includes type information relating to at least one type of underground facility specified in the locate request ticket; and   in C), the historical information is selected for statistical analysis based at least in part on the type information relating to the at least one type of underground facility specified in the locate request ticket.   
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein:
 the historical information includes the historical damage reports;   in C), the at least one processor performs the statistical analysis of the historical damage reports to determine a frequency of damages relating to the at least one type of underground facility and/or a damage cost associated with the at least one type of underground facility; and   in D), the at least one processor automatically assigns the at least one risk designation to the locate request ticket based at least in part on the frequency of damages relating to the at least one type of underground facility and/or the damage cost associated with the at least one type of underground facility.   
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the ticket information extracted in B) includes excavator information relating to at least one excavator specified in the locate request ticket; and   in C), the historical information is selected for statistical analysis based at least in part on the excavator information relating to the at least one excavator specified in the locate request ticket.   
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein:
 the historical information includes the historical damage reports; and   the historical damage reports include an excavator damage history for the at least one excavator specified in the locate request ticket.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein:
 the excavator damage history includes excavator damage costs and/or excavator damage counts; and   in D), the at least one processor automatically assigns the at least one risk designation to the locate request ticket based at least in part on the excavator damage costs and/or excavator damage counts.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of any one of  claim 8 , wherein:
 the historical information includes at least some of the historical reports of previously completed locate request tickets that indicate the at least one excavator.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of any one of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the ticket information extracted in B) includes geographic information relating to the work site and/or dig area specified in the locate request ticket; and   in C), the historical information is selected based at least in part on the geographic information relating to the work site and/or dig area specified in the locate request ticket.   
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the historical information includes the historical damage reports;   in C), the at least one processor performs the statistical analysis of the historical damage reports to determine at least one distance between a first location of the work site and/or dig area as indicated by the geographic information specified in the locate request ticket and a second location of at least one previous accident indicated in the historical damage reports; and   in D), the at least one processor automatically assigns the at least one risk designation to the locate request ticket based at least in part on the at least one distance determined in C).   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein:
 the historical damage reports include at least one damage cost associated with the at least one previous accident; and   in D), the at least one processor automatically assigns the at least one risk designation to the locate request ticket based at least in part on the at least one distance determined in C) and the at least one damage cost associated with the at least one previous accident.   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of any one of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the historical information includes the historical records of previously completed locate request tickets; and   in C), at least one of the historical records of previously completed locate request tickets is selected based at least in part on a proximity between a first location of the work site and/or dig area as indicated by the geographic information specified in the locate request ticket and a second location of a historical work site and/or dig area specified by the at least one of the historical records of previously completed locate request tickets.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the at least one of the historical records of previously completed locate request tickets relates to a high profile ticket;   in C), the at least one processor performs the statistical analysis of the at least one of the historical records to determine at least one distance between the first location of the work site and/or dig area as indicated by the geographic information specified in the locate request ticket and the second location of the high profile ticket; and   in D), the at least one processor automatically assigns the at least one risk designation to the locate request ticket based at least in part on the at least one distance determined in C).   
     
     
         17 . An apparatus for assessing risk associated with a locate and/or marking operation specified by a locate request ticket generated by a one-call center, the locate and/or marking operation comprising detecting and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area at a work site, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities at the work site, the apparatus comprising:
 at least one communication interface;   at least one memory to store processor-executable instructions; and   at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one memory and the at least one communication interface, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the at least one processor, the at least one processor:
 A) controls the at least one communication interface so as to receive the locate request ticket generated by the one-call center; 
 B) parses the locate request ticket received in A) so as to extract ticket information obtained from the locate request ticket, the extracted ticket information including:
 a first identifier for an excavator performing the excavation activities at the work site; and 
 a second identifier for the work site and/or the dig area; 
 
 C) assigns at least one risk designation to the locate request ticket based at least in part on historical information, the historical information including:
 an excavator damage history for the excavator identified by the first identifier; 
 historical damage reports for at least one damage location in proximity to the work site and/or the dig area identified by the second identifier; and 
 historical records of previously completed locate request tickets for a geographic area encompassing and/or proximate to the work site and/or the dig area identified by the second identifier, and/or including excavator information relating to the excavator identified by the first identifier; and 
 
 D) controls the at least one communication interface to transmit, and/or controls the at least one memory to store, the at least one risk designation so as to facilitate clearing the locate request ticket and/or dispatching at least one locate technician to perform the locate and/or marking operation, based at least in part on the at least one risk designation assigned in C). 
   
     
     
         18 . In a system comprising at least one processor, at least one memory, and at least one communication interface, a method for assessing risk associated with a locate and/or marking operation specified by a locate request ticket generated by a one-call center, the locate and/or marking operation comprising detecting and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area at a work site, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities at the work site, the method comprising:
 A) receiving, via the at least one communication interface, the locate request ticket generated by the one-call center;   B) parsing, via the at least one processor, the locate request ticket received in A) so as to extract ticket information obtained from the locate request ticket;   C) performing, via the at least one processor, a statistical analysis of historical information, the historical information being selected based at least in part on the ticket information extracted in B) and including at least one of:
 historical damage reports for underground facility infrastructure; and 
 historical records of previously completed locate request tickets; 
   D) automatically assigning, via the at least one processor, at least one risk designation to the locate request ticket based at least in part on the statistical analysis of the historical information performed in C); and   E) transmitting via the at least one communication interface, and/or storing in the at least one memory, the at least one risk designation so as to facilitate clearing the locate request ticket and/or dispatching at least one locate technician to perform the locate and/or marking operation, based at least in part on the at least one risk designation automatically assigned in D).   
     
     
         19 . At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with at least one program including processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, performs a method for assessing risk associated with a locate and/or marking operation specified by a locate request ticket generated by a one-call center, the locate and/or marking operation comprising detecting and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area at a work site, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities at the work site, the method comprising:
 A) receiving the locate request ticket generated by the one-call center;   B) parsing the locate request ticket received in A) so as to extract ticket information obtained from the locate request ticket;   C) performing a statistical analysis of historical information, the historical information being selected based at least in part on the ticket information extracted in B) and including at least one of:
 historical damage reports for underground facility infrastructure; and 
 historical records of previously completed locate request tickets; 
   D) automatically assigning at least one risk designation to the locate request ticket based at least in part on; and   E) transmitting via the at least one communication interface, and/or storing in the at least one memory, the at least one risk designation so as to facilitate clearing the locate request ticket and/or dispatching at least one locate technician to perform the locate and/or marking operation, based at least in part on the at least one risk designation automatically assigned in D).   
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein the at least one risk designation comprises a numerical score. 
     
     
         21 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein:
 the ticket information extracted in B) includes type information relating to at least one type of underground facility specified in the locate request ticket; and   in C), the historical information is selected for statistical analysis based at least in part on the type information relating to the at least one type of underground facility specified in the locate request ticket.   
     
     
         22 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 21 , wherein:
 the historical information includes the historical damage reports;   in C), the statistical analysis of the historical damage reports is performed to determine a frequency of damages relating to the at least one type of underground facility and/or a damage cost associated with the at least one type of underground facility; and   in D), the at least one risk designation is automatically assigned to the locate request ticket based at least in part on the frequency of damages relating to the at least one type of underground facility and/or the damage cost associated with the at least one type of underground facility.   
     
     
         23 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein:
 the ticket information extracted in B) includes excavator information relating to at least one excavator specified in the locate request ticket; and   in C), the historical information is selected based at least in part on the excavator information relating to the at least one excavator specified in the locate request ticket.   
     
     
         24 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 23 , wherein:
 the historical information includes the historical damage reports;   the historical damage reports include an excavator damage history for the at least one excavator specified in the locate request ticket;   the excavator damage history includes excavator damage costs and/or excavator damage counts; and   in D), the at least one risk designation is automatically assigned to the locate request ticket based at least in part on the excavator damage costs and/or excavator damage counts.   
     
     
         25 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein:
 the ticket information extracted in B) includes geographic information relating to the work site and/or dig area specified in the locate request ticket; and   in C), the historical information is selected based at least in part on the geographic information relating to the work site and/or dig area specified in the locate request ticket.   
     
     
         26 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 25 , wherein:
 the historical information includes the historical damage reports;   in C), the statistical analysis of the historical damage reports is performed to determine at least one distance between a first location of the work site and/or dig area as indicated by the geographic information specified in the locate request ticket and a second location of at least one previous accident indicated in the historical damage reports; and   in D), the at least one risk designation is automatically assigned to the locate request ticket based at least in part on the at least one distance determined in C).   
     
     
         27 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 26 , wherein:
 the historical damage reports include at least one damage cost associated with the at least one previous accident; and   in D), the at least one risk designation is automatically assigned to the locate request ticket based at least in part on the at least one distance determined in C) and the at least one damage cost associated with the at least one previous accident.   
     
     
         28 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 25 , wherein:
 the historical information includes the historical records of previously completed locate request tickets; and   in C), at least one of the historical records of previously completed locate request tickets is selected based at least in part on a proximity between a first location of the work site and/or dig area as indicated by the geographic information specified in the locate request ticket and a second location of a historical work site and/or dig area specified by the at least one of the historical records of previously completed locate request tickets.