Louisiana Locator of the Year Awards

CONGRATULATIONS TO the 2022 Louisiana Locator of the Year Award winners! Locators are the unsung heroes in our industry. They help keep everyone protected during construction projects. Locators mark underground facilities to keep the utility or pipeline protected, to keep workers safe and to protect communities from unplanned devastation. A lot of pressure and stress sit with a locator because of their busy schedule. Many companies are short-handed, so locators are constantly trying to keep up with the large ticket volume. The utility system is expanding each year. There are also road and bridge projects occurring in many areas and infrastructure projects are being granted nationwide. These projects will start being implemented within the next few years, resulting in even more dig tickets.

Utility locators are incredibly hard workers. Numerous locators nationwide hit the road early, work all day, most likely eating lunch in their car or on the go, and getting home late at night, unless they’re spending the night out of town. Our industry is in high demand of more great locators to help spread the work load. It’s extremely difficult for locators to keep up with the large amount of ticket volume that they receive. Many companies are trying to hire more locators, so if anyone knows someone that may be interested in locating, the industry appreciates you encouraging them to look into it.

We hope that the new infrastructure bill will include supporting the damage prevention side of the industry to help keep up with the operations side. Excavators can help locators by complying with their state’s dig laws on the timing of submitting tickets and the amount of area that is submitted at once. Also, providing correct contact and other quality information, as well as managing ticket quantity, helps to keep the 811 system running efficiently. Communication between stakeholders can also help positively impact a locator.

To our locators, thank you for your long days and hard work to mark underground facilities for excavation projects. You keep our state safe and progressing forward. We truly appreciate you!

The Louisiana Locator of the Year Awards are presented to a locator representing a large member company, small member company, and a contract locator:

• Large Member Company: David Alexius – Atmos Energy
• Small Member Company: Darrell Langley – Sempra Infrastructure/ Cameron Interstate Pipeline
• Contract Locator: Teddy Venable - USIC

These locators completed a large amount of dig tickets without any safety violations or at-fault damages. They also establish proactive relationships in the community and are damage prevention ambassadors. We are privileged to honor our valued locators! They work extremely hard to keep excavation projects safe and moving forward efficiently. Thank you to all locators for your incredible efforts!