Presenter: Cindy Kyle (Pate Construction)  |  Room: Cottonwood  | Capacity: 80 

Session Block: 1  |  Time: 8:00 am – 9:00 am  |   Length: 60 minutes 

A trench can collapse in seconds — faster than any worker can react. Trenching remains one of the deadliest activities in construction, yet the vast majority of cave-ins are preventable. In this fast-moving, field-focused session, Cindy Kyle shows how failures actually happen and how to spot danger before anyone steps into the hole. You'll see what OSHA expects from employers and crews, understand the pivotal role of the Competent Person, and learn to read the warning signs — soil conditions, spoil placement, water, vibration — that separate a routine dig from a fatal one. 

Who should attend:  Field excavators, foremen, supervisors, safety managers, and utility contractors responsible for excavation or trench safety. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Recognize high-risk trench conditions and warning signs before entering or continuing work 

• Identify common excavation hazards and failure modes 

• Understand the role of the Competent Person and OSHA expectations 

• Know which protective systems (sloping, shoring, shielding) are required and when 

Presenter: Jacquee Wilson (Colorado Safety Commission), Annemarie Bluff (Authentic Drilling, LLC), Erick Anderson (City & County of Denver)   |  Room: Conifer  |  Capacity: 100 

Session Block: 1  |  Time: 8:00 am – 9:00 am  |   Length: 60 minutes 

The Underground Damage Prevention Safety Commission has created seven (might be up to eight by October) Best Practices and one Standard to provide guidance to those working in the Colorado excavation industry. Do you use these in your everyday work? Did you know that if you're involved in a complaint hearing, you could be found in violation of the Standard just like you could be found in violation of the law? If this is all news to you, this session will provide you an overview of the Safety Commission's Best Practices and Standard so that you know how they apply to you. 

Who should attend:  Locators, members, excavators, and anyone who could find themselves in a complaint hearing. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Know the current Best Practices and the enforceable Standard 

• Understand how each applies to your specific role 

• Recognize how they are used in complaint hearings 

• Put them to work in your everyday operations 

Presenter: Mario Mora (Staking U)  |  Room: Larkspur  |  Capacity: 80   

Session Block: 1  |  Time: 8:00 am – 9:00 am  |   Length: 60 minutes 

Every safe dig starts with knowing what's beneath your feet — and knowing how the locate actually gets made. In this ground-level primer, Mario Mora opens up the science behind locating: how a transmitter energizes a utility line and creates a magnetic field, and how a receiver reads that field using peak, null, triangulation, and digital-depth methods to pinpoint the line and its depth. 

You'll see how frequency selection, grounding, placement, and connection type — conductive versus inductive — change what a locator can trace, and why current levels (good, OK, or poor) tell you how reliable that trace really is. It all comes back to one core idea: current creates a field, the field's shape reveals the line, and tracing to a logical, visible endpoint confirms the locate. If you've ever wondered what really happens after you call 811, this session connects the dots — and gives newer crews the confidence to both trust and question the marks on the ground. 

Who should attend:  Excavators and field crews newer to the industry, apprentice locators, and anyone who wants to understand how utility locating actually works. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Understand how transmitters and receivers find and trace buried utilities 

• Interpret peak, null, triangulation, and depth readings — and what affects their accuracy 

• See how frequency, grounding, and conductive vs. inductive connections change results 

• Follow the current–shape–endpoint logic that confirms a reliable locate 

Presenter: Casey Hensley (Public Utilities Commission)  |  Room: Bluebell  |  Capacity: 50 

Session Block: 1  |  Time: 8:00 am – 9:00 am  |   Length: 60 minutes  

Colorado's pipeline safety rules keep evolving — and this session is your annual briefing on what's changed and what's coming. Casey Hensley walks pipeline operators through updated rules and their effective dates, questions of jurisdiction and authority, reporting requirements, and the PUC's initiatives to improve and address compliance (including the value of regularly scheduled operator meetings). Expect asset-specific guidance across master meter and LPG systems, municipal and 60106 operators, and gathering lines — from definitions and turnover to enforcement partnerships. 

Who should attend:  Pipeline operators, utility owners, and compliance staff. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Know the updated rules and their effective dates 

• Understand reporting requirements, jurisdiction, and authority 

• See asset-specific guidance for master meter/LPG, municipal/60106, and gathering systems 

• Learn how the PUC is approaching compliance and operator engagement 

Presenter: Jason Jacobson (J Mikel Solutions LLC)  |  Room: Primrose  |  Capacity: 80   

Session Block: 1  |  Time: 8:00 am – 9:00 am  |   Length: 60 minutes    

Every excavator has a story about a locator who held up the job. Every locator has a story about an excavator who jumped the gun. Both stories are true — and that's exactly the problem. 

Damage prevention doesn't fail because people don't care. It fails when schedule pressure, incomplete information, and unchecked assumptions turn two groups working toward the same goal into adversaries. This session uses the lens of perception — how we see a situation shapes how we respond to it — to help field leaders and organizational decision-makers recognize when their read on a situation might be incomplete, and what to do about it. 

You'll leave with practical tools for having difficult conversations before pressure peaks, replacing assumptions with verification habits, and shifting the excavator–locator dynamic from "us and them" to a shared mission. Because the most effective damage prevention happens when both sides can see what the other is carrying. 

Who should attend:  Field leaders, supervisors, and organizational decision-makers on both the excavator and locator side — plus office staff who manage handoffs. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Recognize when your read on a situation is incomplete — and how perception drives conflict 

• Start difficult conversations before schedule pressure peaks 

• Replace assumptions with simple verification habits 

• Shift the excavator–locator relationship from “us and them” to a shared mission 

Presenter: Jim Proszek (Halle Still) & Anthony “Tony” Jorgenson (Jorgenson LLC)  |  Room: Aspen Amphitheatre  |  Capacity: 102

Session Block: 1  |  Length: 60 minutes  |  Time: 8:00 am – 9:00 am  

The questions come fast after a damage — and "I didn't know" isn't an answer that holds up. In this unscripted, courtroom-style walkthrough, watch how an excavation is dissected after an incident: the documents that get pulled, the standards that get cited, and the decisions that suddenly matter under oath. Jim Proszek and Tony Jorgenson reveal how "reasonable care" is really evaluated — and how disciplined documentation and process discipline can protect your team long before a hit ever happens. 

Who should attend:  Excavators, supervisors, safety managers, project managers, and anyone who would lead incident response or documentation after a damage. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Identify the key documents and evidence that matter most after a damage event 

• Understand how “reasonable care” is assessed and why “not knowing” isn’t a defense 

• Strengthen everyday documentation habits to reduce exposure in investigations 

• Know what to expect if you are ever deposed

Presenter: Sanatam Khalsa (Colorado 811)  |  Room: Cottonwood  | Capacity: 80  

Session Block: 2  |  Length: 90 minutes  |  Time: 9:30 am – 11:00 am 

You know the basics — now go deeper. This advanced session moves past "call before you dig" into the nuances that trip up even seasoned pros: complex tickets, positive response, tolerance zones, remarks and updates, and the Colorado-specific rules that shape a truly safe dig. Led by CO811, it's built for people who want to master the process, not just follow it. 

Who should attend:  Experienced excavators, locators, members, and 811 power users. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Sharpen your command of the Colorado 811 process 

• Handle complex and large tickets correctly 

• Apply positive response and tolerance-zone rules with confidence 

• Avoid the advanced mistakes that still cause damages 

Presenter: Luis Ortiz (Colorado 811)  |  Room: Larkspur  |  Capacity: 80

Session Block: 2  |  Length: 90 minutes  |  Time: 9:30 am – 11:00 am 

Una sesión avanzada, íntegramente en español, para los profesionales de la excavación que quieren dominar — no solo cumplir — la prevención de daños en Colorado. Cubriremos la excavación segura, la interpretación de marcas y localizaciones, la respuesta positiva y las zonas de tolerancia, con ejemplos reales del día a día en el campo. 

(For the program: an advanced, Spanish-language session covering safe digging, locates, positive response, and tolerance zones for experienced Spanish-speaking excavation professionals.) 

Who should attend:  Profesionales de excavación de habla hispana con experiencia. / Experienced Spanish-speaking excavation professionals. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Dominar el proceso de excavación segura en Colorado 

• Interpretar marcas, localizaciones y respuesta positiva con confianza 

• Aplicar correctamente las zonas de tolerancia 

• Reducir daños con mejores hábitos en el campo 

Presenter: David Siddle & Kelly Jones (Frontier Precision)  |  Room: Conifer  |  Capacity: 100

Session Block: 2  |  Length: 90 minutes  |  Time: 9:30 am – 11:00 am 

Traditional mapping throws away most of what a locate knows. When a locator paints the ground and a mapper later collects that paint as a point or line, the rich metadata — frequency, signal strength, depth — vanishes, and locate and GNSS data collected weeks apart can drift out of sync. This session traces the fast evolution from paint-and-pin to integrated "mapping-locating" solutions, including PointMan (mandated in CDOT right-of-way since 2021), Subsurface Maps, Locate IQ, Trimble TerraFlex and Access, TerraFlow, and the Esri Field Maps integration arriving in 2026. 

You'll see how high-accuracy GNSS — built-in or added as 30/10/2 cm "puck" antennas — turns a locator into an all-in-one data-capture tool. Hardware discussed includes Radiodetection, MetroTech, Trimble, and Juniper Systems. 

Who should attend: Locators, GIS and mapping staff, utility owners, and technology decision-makers. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Understand what's lost in traditional locate-then-map workflows 

• Compare today's integrated mapping-locating platforms 

• Know the accuracy tiers of current GNSS options 

• Plan a path toward richer, better-synced utility data 

Presenter: Kevin Stilson (Public Utilities Commission) |  Room: Bluebell  |  Capacity: 50 

Session Block: 2  |  Length: 90 minutes  |  Time: 9:30 am – 11:00 am     

Integrity management is where pipeline safety gets real — and where the alphabet soup gets deep. Kevin Stilson clarifies what the PUC expects from operators' integrity management programs, drawing clear lines between transmission (TIMP) and distribution (DIMP) requirements and the variations operators run into. If your program touches integrity management, this session helps you understand both the requirements and the expectations behind them. 

Who should attend:  Pipeline operators, integrity management staff, and compliance leads. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Understand PUC expectations for integrity management programs 

• Distinguish TIMP, DIMP, and related program variants 

• Clarify common points of confusion (e.g., DIMI vs. DIMP, P-DIMP) 

• Know what a compliant program looks like 

Presenter: Dale Robinson (Construction Education Foundation)  |  Room: Primrose  |  Capacity: 80 

Session Block: 2  |  Length: 90 minutes  |  Time: 9:30 am – 11:00 am 

OSHA compliance isn't just paperwork — it's the line between a close call and a citation. Dale Robinson walks through the requirements that most affect excavation and damage-prevention work, the violations that draw the steepest penalties, and the practical steps that keep your crews compliant and your company protected. Straight talk on what inspectors look for and how to be ready before they arrive. 

Who should attend:  Supervisors, safety managers, contractors, and business owners. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Understand the OSHA requirements most relevant to your work 

• Know which violations carry the biggest penalties 

• Prepare your site and crew for an inspection 

• Reduce compliance risk with practical, repeatable habits 

Presenter: Roger Cox (Aligning Change)  |  Room: Aspen Amphitheatre  |  Capacity: 102

Session Block: 2  |  Length: 90 minutes  |  Time: 9:30 am – 11:00 am   

Colorado 811 is exploring the development of a Large Project Module in Exactix — and wants to hear directly from the stakeholders who will use it. In this interactive working session, participants will review industry research, learn how other states approach large project coordination, and share perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of managing complex excavation projects. Expect discussion, collaboration, and a real opportunity to help shape the future of large project coordination in Colorado. 

Who should attend:  Project managers, excavators, locators, utility owners/operators, engineers, contractors, and anyone involved in planning or coordinating large excavation projects. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Learn how other states approach large project coordination 

• Explore best practices and emerging trends 

• Share your experiences and challenges with industry peers 

• Help inform the development of Colorado 811's Large Project Module 

• Contribute to a process designed to better serve all stakeholders 

Presenter: Dillon Ohrt (Suncor Energy) & BJ Hartley (Black Hills Energy) | Room: Cottonwood  | Capacity: 80

Session Block: 3  |  Time: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm  |  Length: 60 minutes 

The excavator and the pipeline operator want the same thing: everyone goes home safe. Digging near a transmission pipeline leaves no margin for error, and this session bridges the gap between the crew and the control room. Hear directly from pipeline operators about what they most need excavators to understand — tolerance zones, hand-exposing, positive response, and the calls that make the difference — and how operators partner with the field to reinforce safe practice rather than police it. The session will also highlight free excavation safety resources available through PAPA that can be used for field training, safety meetings, and ongoing outreach. It's a candid, two-way conversation aimed at fewer hits, stronger working relationships, and safer outcomes in the field. 

Who should attend:  Excavators, foremen, utility contractors, pipeline operators, locators, and other professionals involved in damage prevention and safe work around underground infrastructure. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Understand what pipeline operators expect around locates and tolerance zones 

• Know when and how to hand-expose near high-consequence lines 

• See how positive response protects your crew and the public 

• Learn about free excavation safety tools and resources available through PAPA 

• Build a working relationship with operators before an emergency

Presenter: Joel Elcock (Colorado Barricade)  |  Room: Conifer  |  Capacity: 100

Session Block: 3  |  Time: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm  |  Length: 60 minutes     

Locators are often asked to work in active roadway and work-zone environments where they have little control over traffic control, site conditions, or other contractors. Join the experts from Colorado Barricade for a practical look at the safety options available to protect both the locator and the traveling public — with a focus on mobile operations that keep locates moving rather than slowing them down. 

You'll learn to recognize safe and unsafe work zones, understand when work should stop, and communicate concerns professionally and effectively — plus hear real strategies for putting mobile traffic-control approaches into practice successfully. 

Who should attend:  Utility locators, locator supervisors, safety professionals, and anyone performing field work in or around traffic-control zones. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Identify high-risk roadway and work-zone conditions that increase exposure to injury 

• Know the safety options that protect both the locator and the traveling public

• Use mobile traffic-control approaches that keep locates moving 

• Communicate and escalate effectively when unsafe conditions are encountered 

• Know when to pause work and who to contact when risk is unacceptable 

Presenter: Carla Sanchez & Carlie White (Colorado 811)  |  Room: Larkspur  |  Capacity: 80    

Session Block: 3  |  Time: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm  |  Length: 60 minutes 

A positive response is good. A positive response with proof is bulletproof. Join CO811's Carla and Carlie for a practical look at how photo and document attachments strengthen positive response — protecting locators and members when a locate is questioned, and giving excavators the clarity they need to dig with confidence. You'll see what strong documentation looks like and how attachments close the loop across the entire damage-prevention process. 

Who should attend:  Locators, members, utility owners, and 811 users. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Understand the role of attachments in positive response 

• Capture documentation that holds up when it counts 

• Improve clarity and trust between members and excavators 

• Use proof to reduce disputes and damages 

Presenter: Jessica Nesvold (Public Utilities Commission)  | Room: Bluebell  |  Capacity: 50 

Session Block: 3  |  Time: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm  |  Length: 60 minutes 

What happens when a pipeline operator falls out of compliance? Jessica Nesvold pulls back the curtain on the PUC's enforcement approach and process, using real examples of compliance actions across a range of regulated operators. Expect concrete cases — from overpressure-protection initiatives to cathodic-protection qualification and qualified-procedure definitions — that show what the PUC looks for and how operators can stay on the right side of the line. 

Who should attend:  Pipeline operators, compliance officers, and utility owners. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Understand the PUC's enforcement approach and process 

• See real examples of compliance actions across operator types 

• Learn what “good” looks like for CP qualification and qualified procedures 

• Reduce your enforcement risk with clearer program definitions 

Presenter: Mike Abla (Colorado 811)  |  Room: Primrose  |  Capacity: 80 

Session Block: 3  |  Length: 60 minutes  |  Time: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm   

Behind the tickets and reports, CO811 is working to become a more analytics-driven organization — and this session pulls back the curtain on that journey. Rather than a finished playbook, it's an honest look at how a damage-prevention organization turns data into better decisions: the tools and habits being built, the questions worth asking, the realities of data quality along the way, and where it's all headed. Come see how "from data to decision" is taking shape — and what it could mean for the broader Colorado damage-prevention community. 

Who should attend:  Program managers, safety leaders, utility owners, and anyone accountable for damage-prevention outcomes. 

What you’ll take away: 

• How CO811 is maturing from data collection to data-informed decisions 

• The building blocks of an analytics-driven culture 

• Which questions the data can realistically answer today 

• How a data-driven mindset can strengthen your own organization 

Presenter: Casey Hensley (Public Utilities Commission), Annemarie Bluff (Authentic Drilling, LLC), Jacquee Wilson (Colorado Safety Commission), Ryan Echer (Public Utilities Commission), Claudia Randall (Colorado 811)  | Room: Aspen Amphitheatre  |  Capacity: 102

Session Block: 3  |  Length: 60 minutes  |  Time: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm     

Who enforces damage prevention in Colorado — and what happens when the rules fall short? This candid panel brings together voices from across the regulatory landscape to talk expectations, gaps, and real progress. Hear how the PUC, the Safety Commission, and industry are working to close loopholes, sharpen accountability, and build a damage-prevention system that keeps pace with the work in the field. Come with questions; this is a conversation, not a lecture. 

Who should attend:  Pipeline operators, utility owners, locators, excavators, and anyone affected by Colorado's damage-prevention rules. 

What you’ll take away: 

• Understand who regulates damage prevention in Colorado and how 

• See where current gaps create risk 

• Hear the progress underway and what's coming next 

• Bring your own perspective into the conversation