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Q1 2017
ON TRACK
NEWS, UPDATES, FUN, & ALL THINGS LOCATING.
GROWING FOOTPRINT:
STORY ON PAGE 4
EXPANDING IN CHICAGO & CLEVELAND
USIC’s Utility Services Division is your utility compliance and solutions partner. Our experienced teams utilize the most advanced technology to ensure superior quality STORY ON PG. 6 and reliability. Nationwide, utility companies depend upon our oversight and precision to protect their infrastructure.
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UNDER GROUND UNDER CONTROL
MESSAGE OF THE QUARTER CONTENTS 2 Under Ground. Under Control.
BLOOD HOUND, INC. PARTNERS WITH USIC
On November 1st, Blood Hound Inc. entered into a partnership with USIC. This partnership was the culmination of many months of discussions, with a goal to ensure that this new endeavor will benefit all team members at both Blood Hound and USIC.
3 Utility Locating Update 4 Safety First 6 Cover Story 7 Business Development News 8 Technology Update
What does this mean for you? In large part, this will be a seamless transition for you and our customers.
9 Meet the Technician 10 HR Update 11 Blood Hound University 12 Safety Spotlight 13 Industry News 14 Gallery, Events & Community
CONTACTS TRACY PURSELL
VP, Business Development TPursell@BHUG.com
CRISSY KOGER VP, IT
CKoger@BHUG.com
MIKE IADANZA
Director of Marketing TPursell@BHUG.com
SUGGESTIONS? Have anything you’d like to share? Let us know!
marketing@bhug.com
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Our terrific leadership team will remain in place, continuing to guide Blood Hound during this next, exciting phase for our company. Blood Hound will continue to operate as a separate company, with USIC as its parent. Our logo will remain unchanged. Most importantly, you will continue to do exactly what you’ve been doing… and what you do exceptionally well. Because of your efforts, we have built a nationally recognized brand that means “leader” in our industry. Leveraging USIC’s data, size and scale, we are now poised to further grow and strengthen the Blood Hound brand. As President, I am committed to ensuring that Blood Hound maintains the same high standard of safety and quality that has enabled us to grow into the leading Now part of the USIC family, I am pleased to announce our ability to provide all Blood Hound employees with several enhanced benefit options. For example, all employees will have the choice of three different health care plans at reduced cost compared to what you are paying now. In addition, you will have two comprehensive dental plans to choose from, as well as the option to participate in a 401K program, with a generous company match. Full details on these and other benefits available to you will be provided shortly. We have the right people, the right technology and now the right partnership. You should all be proud. Dig safe,
Mark A. Mason President, Blood Hound
“SEE” THE MAGNETIC FIELD UTILITY LOCATING UPDATE
ON TRACK
By Joe Murphy
Did you know that our locating equipment doesn’t directly identify utility lines? The locating equipment from RadioDetection, Metrotech and similar manufacturers all work using magnetic fields to allow us to locate buried lines. Our locating transmitters work by conducting an Alternating Electric Current (AC), which means that the electricity changes directions at set intervals which we measure in Hertz (Hz). The frequency is the number of times this alternating current changes directions each second. So if we are using 32.8 kHz on our transmitter, the alternating current changes direction 32,800 times each second! As this Alternating Current changes direction it creates a magnetic field around the line that it is travelling. Our receivers have antennas inside them that allow them to detect and measure these magnetic fields. By measuring the presence and strength of the magnetic field as the receiver is moved it is able to determine where the magnetic field is the strongest. This should mean that you are directly on top of the line along which your current is travelling. So why is it that our locator tells us a line is in one place, but it is several feet away in some cases. The answer can be seen if we look at an everyday magnet. Magnets will stick to each other or push each other away depending on how we arrange them, and they are attracted to metal and will pull metal objects towards them. Magnetic fields work a lot like magnets, except that we can’t see the magnetic fields (at least not
with our eyes, that’s what our receiver does for us). If a magnetic field gets too close to a metal object (like a fence or a guardrail), the magnetic field will bend towards the metal. If another magnetic field is nearby (like you might see if another utility is in the area), then it might pull towards, or be pushed away. When our magnetic field is distorted or bent, then we lose the ability to identify the center of the field, which would be the location of our utility line. The good news is that our receiver acts like a pair of ‘X-Ray Glasses’ which allows us to ‘see’ the magnetic field and determine if the magnetic field is being distorted. While there are a number of advanced techniques, the simplest way to determine if we are seeing any distortion, is to verify that our peak and null readings are in the same location. So to provide our customers with the most accurate information possible make sure that your are checking for magnetic field distortion by comparing your peak and null readings while you are locating.
DID YOU KNOW that our locating equipment doesn’t directly indentify utility lines?
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SAFETY FIRST
WINTER DRIVING By Larry Oliver
Safety is the number one priority at Blood Hound. That includes the safety of our clients on their jobsites, as well as the safety of our employees whether it is on a jobsite, or traveling the enormous number of miles they drive each and every year. As we go through the winter months and the roads grow slicker each and every day, we wanted to identify a few things that you can do to make sure you are ready when getting behind the wheel. And these safety tips for winter travel apply to any vehicles you might operate, including personal vehicles. Blood Hound wants to make sure you stay safe and warm all year long! Be Prepared
It’s important to be prepared during this time of year, so be sure to keep an emergency kit in your car that contains such necessities as an ice pick; a snow shovel and brush; a basic tool kit with screwdrivers, pliers and a wrench; a bag of traction material like kitty litter or sand; a flashlight with extra batteries; and items to keep you warm, like extra clothes, gloves, hats or possibly Mylar thermal blankets (known as “space blankets”). Finally, make sure your emergency kit contains booster cables and is well stocked with first-aid essentials and nonperishable food items, like granola and energy bars, water, warning flares and reflective triangles. If you don’t want to assemble a kit from scratch, you can easily purchase already assembled emergency kits online.
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Check Your Tires
Your tires are your main connection to the road, so be sure they are inflated properly. Underinflated tires may provide less traction, reduce fuel mileage and can wear out prematurely, so check your pressure at least once a month to ensure you’re driving on properly inflated tires. As temperatures drop, so does the pressure in your tires — a 10-degree difference in ambient temperature can change tire pressure by 1-2 pounds per square inch (psi), according to Goodyear. Look for your vehicle’s correct tire pressure on an informative tag within the driver’s doorjamb or in your owner’s manual. To reduce the frequency of warning lights and potentially improve hydroplaning resistance, you can set your tires 3 psi above the door placard. Depending on the conditions in your area, you may want to swap into winter tires; if not, ensure you have a safe tread depth for your road conditions.
ON TRACK Take the “penny test:” Take a Lincoln penny, hold it between your thumb and forefinger so that Lincoln’s head is showing. Place the top of Lincoln’s head into one of the grooves of the tire’s tread. If any part of Lincoln’s head is obscured by the tread, you have a safe amount of tread, according to Bridgestonetire.com. If you can see above Lincoln’s head, then it is time to consider new tires.
Remain Calm In a Skid
Slick surfaces typically require a longer stopping distance, so keep a greater-than-usual distance between your car and other vehicles. This may give you ample time to respond to road and weather hazards. Practice gentle acceleration and braking to maintain consistent traction in snowy and icy conditions; if your wheels begin to spin, release the accelerator until traction returns. If you find yourself in a skid, The Weather Channel advises letting up on the gas and steering in the direction you want the front of your car to go. Experts warn that you should not hit the gas or the brake until you have control of your car again.
Stay in Charge
A strong and fully charged battery is an absolute necessity in cold weather. Extreme temperatures can take their toll on your battery’s power, so if your battery is more than 3 years old, it may be time to consider replacing it before Jack Frost sucks out the last of its life. Also, be sure the connections are clean, tight and corrosion-free to ensure full-strength winter starts. Some commercial auto care centers will test your current car battery for free and also sell you a new battery, if you need one. Some will also check your vehicle’s electrical system to ensure everything is in working order to ensure you will get years of hassle-free starts from your new car battery.
Step up to New Safety Technology
BE PREPARED & STAY IN CHARGE. the driver maintain control in curves and turns — especially in wet or slippery conditions — by detecting when the vehicle begins to slip and reducing the throttle and applying the brakes to individual wheels to help correct the vehicle’s orientation. Traction systems also prevent the vehicle’s drive wheels from spinning while accelerating under slippery conditions.
Remember… Stay safe!
Practically every automaker offers electronic traction and stability control systems that work along with the car’s anti-lock braking system to assist drivers in slippery road conditions. Though they all use different trade names, these safety systems all function to help
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COVER STORY
PARTNERSHIP History was made when Blood Hound, the midwest’s largest Private Utility Locating & Subsurface Utility Engineering firm partnered with USIC, the nation’s largest Public Locating firm. This partnership is the culmination of many months of discussions, with a goal to ensure that this new endeavor will benefit all team members at both Blood Hound and USIC. In large part, this has been a seamless transition for our employees and customers. Our terrific leadership team has remained in place, to guide Blood Hound during this next, exciting phase for our company. Blood Hound will
continue to operate as a separate company, with USIC as its parent. Our logo will remain unchanged. Leveraging USIC’s data, size and scale, we are now poised to further grow and strengthen the Blood Hound brand. Mark Mason, President of Blood Hound shared, “As President, I am committed to ensuring that Blood Hound maintains the same high standard of safety and quality that has enabled us to grow into the leading Private Locating and SUE service provider we are today. Our new partnership will not change our commitment to safety, quality, and innovation that our customers have come to expect.”
As the demand for private utility locates grow with our clients, Blood Hound continues to grow the footprint to take care of our client needs. Blood Hound is local to Chicago and Cleveland. So, what does this mean? It means we can be at our client job sites if not the same day. Below is a list of Blood Hounds local markets:
• • • • • • •
Indianapolis, IN Fort Wayne, IN Frankfort, KY Louisville, KY Lexington, KY Cincinnati, OH Columbus, OH
• • • • • • •
Akron, OH Toledo, OH Cleveland, OH Chicago, IL Northwest Indiana Evansville, IN Detroit, MI
Stay tuned – we’ll be growing into additional new markets in 2017!
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ON TRACK
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT NEWS
When looking back on 2016, It’s awesome to know we continue to grow the business as well as continue to be the leader in the Midwest providing Private Utility Locating and Subsurface Utility Engineering services. Over the years we have performed work for thousands of clients. Each time we perform our services, whether it is the first time we have worked for a client or a long term client relationship where we are engaged multiple times during the year, we strive to exceed our client expectations by arriving on time, doing the job right and providing the deliverables that are second to none in the industry. Although we have thousands of clients, not all clients are the same or require the same type of work from Blood Hound. Blood Hound serves the following segments: • • • • • • • • •
Engineering, Survey & Architect Environmental Excavation & Drilling General, Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing Contractor Government & Institutional Landscape, Irrigation & Fencing Manufacturing, Plant, Retail & Sales Utilities, Petroleum & Pipeline Resident, Apartments, Properties & Organizations
We appreciate the fact we have a diverse client base and as our client needs change they feel comfortable and confident working with Blood Hound. The following are the diverse range of services we provide our clients: • • • • • • • •
Electromagnetic (EM) Locating Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Vacuum Excavation (Air & Hydro) Jetting Camera Investigation of Pipes & Drains: • Lateral Launch, Mainline and Push Pull Concrete Scanning Utility Mapping Subsurface Utility Engineering (S.U.E.)
When looking at the list above, could you name the top 5 that Blood Hound serves? Here they are 1 – 5: 1) General, Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing Contractors 2) Engineering, Survey & Architect 3) Utilities, Petroleum & Pipelines 4) Environmental 5) Government & Institutional
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TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
IN THE FIELD Recently launched is the ability to have more than one hourly service on a visit. Before, if a technician was scheduled for a locate and a handheld service, you had to check in/out of two visits for the same job. Not anymore! Technicians will be able to divide their time between multiple services. In addition to this enhancement, you will also be able to edit your per unit (hole, foot) quantities. This enhancement is currently limited to each technician.
Coming soon… Project Managers will be able to view and edit billed quantities for everyone on their project.
IN THE OFFICE In 2016 Blood Hound started using a tool called MapAnything. MapAnything integrated natively within Salesforce which allowed us to quickly implement. In less than a month, all departments were able to transition from Google Maps to MapAnything. With many highly qualified and trained technicians in 6 states at one given time, MapAnything is an immediate success for Blood Hound. Because of the native integration, we are able to map any dataset with Salesforce. This is quite helpful for not only the Call Center but the Sales department and Operations Management. As Blood Hound grows nationally we will be using this program as our major platform for our scheduling team.
Key Features: • Map closest technician to a job • Quickly determine if a job site is within a non-mobilization area • View all Site Visits for a time frame (ie: Today, This Week, Next Week) • View all customers in a given radius • Traffic and different map types such as Terrain verses roadmap. • S ales team can route and plan customer visits based upon past revenue
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ON TRACK
MEET THE TECHNICIAN
MEET THE TECHNICIAN Eddie Dennison is a private underground utility locating technician based in Akron, OH. He has been locating utilities for 5 years total, the previous 1.5 years with Blood Hound, after learning of Blood Hound word-ofmouth from another employee. Eddie states that the freedom to work independently and opportunity for advancement are the most desirable aspects of Blood Hound. There’s also moments when a locate job isn’t going “like it’s supposed to” that make it challenging! Eddie aspires to be a trainer or supervisor with Blood Hound in the future and says that helping contractors find utilities so everyone is safe is personally rewarding.
EDDIE DENNISON AKRON, OH
In his personal life, he is sometimes known as, “Fast Eddie” by his family and friends who has enjoyed racing automobiles since childhood. He enjoys 1980s-1990s rock music, hunting, and shooting activities with his family. A few things on his “bucket list” include: Driving a Top Fuel Dragster, taking a trip around the world and being on sideline of a Pittsburgh Steelers game!
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HR UPDATE
TAKE ADVANTAGE
OF SOME GREAT
NEW BENEFITS! With the new USIC partnership, there are several benefits that you can take advantage of. If you have not already signed up for the 401K plan, we recommend that you do so. We have a discretionary employer match of 50% of the first 6% of employee contributions. The employer match is made quarterly. The vesting schedule for matching monies is 20% per year, or 100% after 5 years of service. Your service with Blood Hound will be recognized for vesting purposes. In November 2016, USIC made a quarterly 401k employer match of over $760,000, the largest to date. The total company contribution for the first nine months was $1.9 Million. Enrolling is easy and can be done online through the USIC Single SignOn, just select 401k Wells Fargo.
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ACCESS YOUR ACCOUNT: ENROLL TODAY! myusicinc.com For enrollment assistance, please contact Wells Fargo directly at 800-728-3123.
And, if you have not already done so, we urge you to review the Employee Discounts paperwork that was provided do you on 11/01/16. You can get great discounts on various types of purchases!
BLOOD HOUND UNIVERSITY
ON TRACK
TRAINING SEASON Training season is upon us once again. At Blood Hound we take advantage of the slight slow down in our daily workload to ensure that our technicians are at the top of their game, and up to date on all of their safety certifications. Blood Hound University boasts a state of the art facility which allows for a truly interactive classroom experience as well as access to a wide variety of field training locations which allows for hands on training in a real world environment. In addition to bringing on around 20 new technicians over our winter training cycle, we will be working on continuing education programs for our veteran staff. In addition to the multitude of annual safety certification renewals that all of our technicians complete each winter, we are looking to improve upon the impressive skillset of our veteran staff by conducting training on advanced methodologies like: • A dvanced Concrete Scanning Techniques using cross polarized antenna configurations. • Using advanced inductive locating techniques • Accurate locating in congested environments In addition to these topics we will conduct our annual ‘year in review’ sessions to share experiences, successes, and failures from the previous year so we can all benefit from these experiences. This also provides our staff an opportunity to engage in open discussion and ‘round-table’ discussions on potential system, procedural, and other process improvements to further improve the quality and efficiency of our service. These sessions have proved invaluable in previous years, and we anticipate that this year will be no exception. We are ready to kick off a very exciting year and anticipate that we will have a very busy and productive training season in preparation for a record breaking year!
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SAFETY SPOTLIGHT
MEETING THE NEEDS OF OUR CLIENTS Blood Hound goes above and beyond when it comes to meeting the needs of our clients. As all employees know, this includes our technicians going through and receiving certifications for a vast array of safety programs. Some of those include OSHA 10, OSHA 30, HAZWOPER, Confined Space, Lock-Out / Tag-Out, just to name a few.
Recently, Blood Hound performed a concrete scanning project in Cincinnati, OH, where the initial scan areas were just out of reach for a standard project. In order to meet those needs, veteran employees Brian Clem and Dean Hinshaw received some additional “Aerial Work Platform Training”. The main purpose of this training is so that the operators can safely and effectively perform their job tasks when operating scissor and boom lifts. According to OSHA, an aerial lift is any vehicle-mounted device used to elevate personnel, including: Extendable Boom Platforms, Aerial Ladders, Articulating (Jointed) Boom Platforms, Vertical Towers and any combination of the previously mentioned. Aerial lifts have replaced ladders and scaffolding on many job sites due to their mobility and flexibility. They can be made of metal, fiberglass reinforced plastic, or other materials. They may be powered or manually operated, and are considered to be aerial lifts whether or not they can rotate around a primarily vertical axis. Many workers are injured or killed on aerial lifts each year, and that is why OSHA requires operators and workers to receive in depth training so they are able to recognize and avoid safety hazards.
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Brian and Dean both went out of their way to make sure they were available for the training, because they both understand the need to provide the services that our client’s want. A big thank you goes out to these two individuals for making sure their jobsite remained safe, and a big thank you goes out to the rest of the Blood Hound gang for making sure you leave every jobsite you visit a safer place than you arrived at.
INDUSTRY NEWS
ON TRACK
Blood Hound is committed to being thought leaders
in the Utility Coordination and SUE industries.
In 2016, Blood Hound conducted learning events in all six districts of INDOT, at eleven Engineering firms, and at the Cincinnati Reds ballpark for clients in that region. Blood Hound team members participated in training sessions at the Purdue Road School. In each of these events, Blood Hound opens the toolbox of SUE tools and explains how they work for the client. Kenny Franklin, VP of SUE Development, has been teaching how Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) is a critical resource for properly coordinating utility infrastructures with road, bridge, and trail projects across the country. Recently, Kenny taught in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Montana, North Dakota, and Oregon with upcoming trips to Maryland, and back to Ohio. Blood Hound has been asked to speak recently at Damage prevention monthly meetings in
Mishawaka, IN and Dayton, OH on the topic of utility coordination. Blood Hound’s investment in partnering with project owners and designers continues to grow as we seek to understand the complexities of this component of projects. We are committed to finding ways to lower costs for the citizens we serve, increase project efficiency, and most importantly to construct safely. Look for Blood Hound to be a key leader in the upcoming AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) Annual Utility conference hosted this year by the Indiana Department of Transportation. For more information about these type of learning opportunities, email kfranklin@bhug.com . BHUG.COM
EVENTS, GALLERY & COMMUNITY It’s a new year and an exciting time for the Blood Hound team. Take a look at some of these great events that have taken place so far!
Tracy Pursell, VP of Business Development introducing Blood Hound and Referral Program to USIC Partners in West Chicago.
Mark Mason and Blood Hound were recently awarded the Patriotic Employer Award from the Indiana Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. The award recognizes the company for its active support of employees who are also active members of the Guard or Reserves. We appreciate the recognition, but the real recognition goes to all those that serve our country.
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Blood Hound attended a kickoff breakfast for the Construction Family Assistance Foundation! Tracy Pursell is on the CFA board and helps support the organization’s efforts to help families who have been affected by a life changing workplace injury. Blood Hound was also recognized as an Angel Donor of CFA Foundation (Construction Family Assistance).
Eric Moore & Westly Blacketer assembling the newest shipment of GPR units (RD1500 with Enhanced Upgrades, Utility Suite and GPS).
ON TRACK VAC EX DEMONSTRATION
TRAINING
To ensure we are meeting our clients growing needs, Blood Hound is looking to grow their Vac-X fleet. We recently had a demonstration of the Vactor HXX Prodigy at our campus.
Braving the Cold for training on Private Utility Locating. Blood Hound visited with the Southwest Ohio Utility Safety Council today to share best practices of Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE). Jason Howell and Kenny Franklin from Blood Hound’s leadership team shared how SUE makes job sites safer, improves efficiencies, minimizes downtime and increases profits.
REMEMBER WHEN: Do you remember
YOUR first week at Blood Hound? Email us your favorite memory and let us know how your first week was!
Joe Murphy, VP of Operations, out in the field training recent USIC 811 technicians in Private Locating. This month, several new team members joined the Blood Hound team and started training at the Brownsburg office. Great first day for the newest members of our pack!
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Utility Locating • GPR • Vacuum Excavation • Camera Pipe Inspections • Utility Mapping
Explosions. Keep ‘em in the movies, not on your jobsite. Okay, okay. We know explosions don’t happen that often. But plenty of other things can go wrong on the job when you don’t know what’s under your shovel. We have a fleet of vac trucks outfitted with the world’s most powerful air-knifing system. So we can dig fast, and we can dig safe. And if it’s just a pipe causing you problems, you might not have to dig at all. With our newest additions in robotic camera technology, including lateral launch capabilities, we can simply take a look inside.
Prevent disaster. Visit BHUG.com or call (888) 858-9830