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ILLINOIS
ONE-CALL SYSTEM RECEIVES RECORD NUMBER |
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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 10, 2003 |
CONTACT: Kevin T. Chmura |
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STATE OF ILLINOIS
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Representatives of the Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators
(JULIE, Inc.) announced today that the Illinois One-Call System received
and processed a record 1,069,651 underground utility locate requests from
excavators in 2002. In
addition, 509 new members joined JULIE, Inc., increasing total membership
to 1,478. These totals
represent significant increases of approximately 7 percent and 52 percent,
respectively.
“In 2002, JULIE representatives implemented a successful public safety
campaign to build awareness and educate excavators about the importance of
safe-digging practices in Illinois,” said Mark Frost, executive director
of JULIE, Inc. “The record
number of underground utility locate requests and significant increase in
membership are both strong indications that our ongoing campaign has been
effective. As we move
forward, we will continue to focus on safety-related issues and expand
outreach of our education campaign through a variety of proactive
methods.”
The following is a list of the top 20 counties in Illinois for locate
requests from excavators in 2002: Cook;
Will; DuPage; Lake; Kane; McHenry; St. Clair; Madison; Winnebago; Sangamon;
McLean; Champaign; Peoria; Kendall; Tazewell; Rock Island; LaSalle;
Kankakee; Macon; and DeKalb.
“Amendatory language to the Illinois Underground Utility Facilities
Damage Prevention Act went into effect last year that creates a true
one-call process by daily penalizing all non-participating underground
facility operators who were not members of JULIE, Inc. by Jan. 1, 2003,”
continued Frost. “Unfortunately,
there were utility facility owners and operators that did not comply with
the state law before the deadline. We
expect membership to continue to grow during the first quarter of the
year.”
JULIE, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation that provides professional and
non-professional (i.e. homeowners) excavators with a toll-free number
(1-800-892-0123) for the free locating and marking of underground
facilities. JULIE serves as a
message handling, notification service for underground facility owners,
taking information about planned excavations and distributing this
information to its membership. It
is then the responsibility of each facility owner to mark the location of
their underground facilities at the excavation site. JULIE neither owns
nor marks any underground facilities.
Established in 1974, JULIE currently represents over 1,475 member
companies in Illinois who benefit from their participation through a
reduction in lost time accidents, service interruptions and costly
repairs. For more information
about JULIE, along with a complete list of members, please visit www.julie1call.com.
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