Page 17 - Mississippi 811 Magazine 2020 Issue 3

Documentation is the Key to Separating an Alleged Violation From a Violation
Good for you! You’ve decided or your company has decided to use the enforcement provision under Mississippi’s dig law. You go to www. msdamageprevention.com and select AVR. Now that you’ve opened the form, you see the form is self- explanatory. You follow the prompts and fill in the blanks. Wow! That was quick and easy. You now find yourself at the section that allows you to “upload an Image/File.”
Submitting AVRs without any supporting documentation and/or photos will likely end in no violation and a lot of frustration.
There are so many reasons to provide documentation to support your allegation, it is hard to know where to start. But here are at least three reasons out of the more than a million to submit documentation.
1. Providing documentation prevents the Enforcement Committee from having to be a mind reader. Documentation verifies your com plaint and gives your allegation credibility.
2. Great communication is and will always be at the heart of any relationship. Great documentation just takes that communication and puts it in a manageable framework that the Enforcement Committee can access.
3. And finally (on this list), it is the way this country was founded and the way it has worked and all of us should really be glad it works that way. It’s called the “presumption of innocence.” Another way of saying it is, “I’m not guilty because you say I’m guilty.” I’m guilty when I’m proven guilty. In this case, proper documentation is necessary to prove your allegation that a violation has occurred.
The more documentation you provide to support your complaint, the better your position. You can upload photos, documents, sketches, police reports, etc... any documentation that you think will prove your case conclusively.
Any photos submitted will be even more effective if they are date and time stamped and helps you tell the story of the violation.
Once the AVR is received, it will be reviewed, investigated and submitted to the Executive Committee appointed
by the Enforcement Board. Following the Executive Committee’s ruling as to whether a violation could be
verified, the violator and complainant will be notified as to the determination.
For effective enforcement to work as it was intended in Mississippi, an AVR must be submitted when a violation occurs, documentation supporting your claim must be submitted and we must be held accountable through the enforcement process.
Most people who submit an AVR likely already have photos and a narrative for claims purposes. That same information could be submitted to support their claim that someone violated the dig law.
There will be sessions devoted to properly completing an AVR and how to properly document at this year’s Mississippi Damage Prevention Summit in November. Go to www. mississippi.damagepreventionsummit.com to learn more about the Summit.
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2020, Issue 3 Mississippi 811 • 15