New Company Formed to Provide Pipeline Protection Services

Announcement of a new company that provides protection personnel and training for pipelines and other utilities.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE               MARCH 17, 2003

NEW COMPANY FORMED TO PROVIDE
UNDERGROUND FACILITY PROTECTION SERVICES

OKLAHOMA CITY -- SafeLines, LLC, a new company formed to provide encroachment and facility protection for pipeline and utility lines, has been established by merging the services of Coates Field Service, Inc. (CFS), of Oklahoma City and Glancz Consultants, Inc. (GCI) of Atlanta, Georgia. Such services are an increasingly critical need in this era of safety awareness and compliance.

SafeLines combines the expertise of Gary Glancz (GCI), an established leader in protecting pipelines from third party damage, with Coates Field Service, Inc., a national provider of outsourcing personnel for right-of-way and land acquisition services since 1950.

"Pipeline companies are grossly overpaying for encroachment protection and One-Call locates without receiving the level of protection that reduces exposure to acceptable levels," stated Glancz. "Pipeline accidents caused by excavation continue to worry the public and the Department of Transportation, prompting recent operator qualification regulations and higher standards." Glancz was previously employed by Colonial Pipeline Company as its right-of-way attorney for 23 years. While at Colonial he took a special interest in facility protection management, operator training, regulatory compliance and crisis management, and he continued in the facility protection consulting business until the formation of SafeLines.

Facility protection process improvement, training of facility protection workers (to exceed operator qualification regulations), outsourcing of facility protection staff and crisis management for incident claims settlement are among the services and programs SafeLines offers.

"By merging Coates expertise in outsourcing with GCIs facility protection expertise, SafeLines offers companies a solution to the increasingly complex issues of regulatory compliance and third party damage exposure while reducing corporate personnel and operating costs. SafeLines has developed process design, training and outsourcing programs to specifically address the development encroachment crisis and to better equip utility operator personnel in preventing damage to company facilities," according to John J. Coates, Jr., President of CFS.
SafeLines, LLC, continued

"Training is the foundation, and while there are several existing training resources available to satisfy OQ regulations for other operating functions, none meet all the needs of facility protection. SafeLines has partnered with a leading edge, state sponsored one-call agency, the Georgia Utility Protection Center, to offer the most comprehensive and valuable operator training available to facility protection personnel," stated Glancz.

SafeLines assures that companies can attain compliance with covered task training under operator qualification regulations and will soon announce the partnering of a training course with a university recognized for engineering excellence and state operated utility One-Call centers to provide meaningful, quality training to facility protection personnel.

"We are not aware of anyone else offering what we are providing," said Glancz. "There are a variety of locate service providers but none that will certify the training of their workers while reducing personnel costs. The times and challenges have changed. Regulator and safety demands are increasing the pressure on pipeline operators and utility companies to find better ways to shoulder their responsibilities. Facility protection should be a separate process center in a company. SafeLines can provide this inexpensively and without disrupting pipeline operations."

Encroachment and facility protection have been treated as sideline activities to product flow operations. "If pipeline companies are not vigilant in thwarting unauthorized encroachment, they soon discover that their pipelines are in danger. The rights-of-way they paid for have been reduced to congested corridors or attractive alleys for unbridled development. The existing 'catch as catch can approach creates oversights and massive inefficiency," explained Glancz. "Facility protection is too important to be left to workers whose priorities are focused on other tasks."

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For additional information contact Gary Glancz, 770-993-8001, or Joe Coates, 405-528-5676