An Agency Protecting the Public from Underground Utilities Establishes Nationwide Communications Best Practices

CLIENT’S CHALLENGE 

Just below ground level in cities and rural communities across the U.S. lie a nest of telephone cables, fiber, electronic lines, water and sewer conduits and other underground infrastructure networks. Over the last 25 years, nearly 500 people have died and more than 2,000 have been injured after striking underground utility lines – usually while digging in the area. Many states, if not all, have established 8-1-1 call centers that help anyone intending to conduct digging operations quickly locate underground utilities – but their communications capabilities are not as effective as they need to be.

THE STRATEGIA SOLUTION 

Preparing on the front-end ensures rapid response in the event of a crisis. A failure in rapid crisis response damages public trust, hurts employee morale, and negatively impacts the bottom line. A representative of a state’s 8-1-1 call center approached Strategia and asked how to prevent this from happening and improve our communications?

IMPACTS + OUTCOMES 

Over the next eight weeks, Strategia conducted a comprehensive assessment of this state’s 8-1-1 system and its communications to all of its external and internal stakeholders. The team’s final report included 25 recommendations – all of which were approved by the organization overseeing the system. At the organization’s request, Strategy also developed a first-of-its-kind 8-1-1 Crisis Communications Manual that (1) defined roles and responsibilities, (2) identified potential crisis utilizing a possibility-probability matrix, and (3) developed response messaging for each crisis. The agency’s leaders are now planning their own presentation for various industry association conventions across the nation – championing their manual and highlighting other communication capabilities as the new high-water mark in industry communication best practices.