1. 42 SPRING 2015 I d p - p r o . c o m
ew and emerging technologies have advanced the profession of the Sub-
surface Utility Mapping (SUM) industry in many countries around the
world. These new technologies have driven great technological advance-
ments in the acquisition and processing of data for SUM deliverables. But
as all SUM professionals recognize, the fundamental component of SUM
should never be overlooked: Defining a Standard of Care for SUM projects. With continu-
ous growth of professional Subsurface Utility Mapping in many countries around the world,
the need to adopt a Standard of Care is a topic of conversation among many of our clients.
These stakeholders include owners, architects, engineers, designers, and other consultants
whose respective professions and industries already work within a well-defined regulatory
and ethical framework of best practices and defined responsibilities.
To that end, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), in 2002, published a brief
but concise document known as ASCE 38-02: Standard Guideline for the Collection and De-
piction of Existing Subsurface Utility Data. This publication, for the first time, gave all U.S.
mapping consultants a simple guideline which defined the SUM technologies, best practices
and project deliverables formats. Inside ASCE 38-02, a common language of industry termi-
nologies was introduced to describe the various technologies available to detect underground
utilities. More importantly, however, ASCE 38-02 recommended and defined a common
standard for annotation of existing utility line work as depicted on contract plans, a standard
that would inform all end-users regarding the quality and reliability of the subsurface utility
information presented on contract plans.
What is most important about ASCE 38-02, more than just the simplicity of the docu-
ment itself, is its directive to all utility industry professionals to communicate, request,
contract, provide and deliver Subsurface Utility Mapping projects to a defined Standard of
Care which can ensure that end-users will obtain professional services in a clear and con-
sistent manner. Moreover, clients and practitioners in the SUM industry can align clients’
expectations, the SUM Scope of Work, Project Plan of Execution, and Project Deliverables
with a high degree of certainty.
Although ASCE 38-02 has now been in place for over a decade, its widespread accep-
tance in the U.S. has been slow in coming. It is encouraging, however, that many agencies
across the country, most prominently the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), have recognized the value guideline and have done
much to promulgate it as a national standard. Within many other countries around the world,
there has been an appreciation of the need to publish their own similar guidelines and they
have utilized ASCE 38-02 as a reference and start-
ing point. As examples, in recent years, officials in
Canada published CA 250-11, the UK published
PSA 128 and Australia Published AS 5488-2013,
to mention just a few.
So today, as designers and engineers around the
world are requesting accurate and reliable SUM
information in 2- and 3-Dimensional CADD for-
mats, it is even more important for all parties to
understand the SUM Standards of Care. As prac-
titioners in the SUM industry, it is our responsi-
bility to educate our clients and industry profes-
sionals regarding the adopted standards to ensure
our work incorporates the industry utility locating
Best Practices, utilizes the appropriate technology,
and delivers the subsurface utility information,
properly annotated, so all parties can make an in-
formed decision when reading and understanding
our deliverables. It is also critical for professionals
dedicated to the Utility Damage Prevention Indus-
try to understand how SUM data can be leveraged
to mitigate third party damages.
With our engineers worldwide requesting 3-Di-
mensional CADD deliverables for civil design
works and for Building Information Modelling
(BIM), the onus is on SUM practitioners to be more
precise in their work and to evolve their skills to
ensure that our project delivery formats accurately
and precisely communicate SUM Standard of Care
and the reliability of our utility data.
Michael A. Twohig is a Damage Prevention Expert at
Vac Group Pty. Ltd., Queensland, Australia. He can be
reached at mike.twohig@vacgroup.com.au.
Defining the Standard of Care for
Subsurface Utility Mapping
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B y M i c h a e l A . T w o h i g
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