In Observance of National Safe Digging Month, CGA Urges Professional Excavators to Contact 811 Before Every Dig

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In observance of April as National Safe Digging Month, Common Ground Alliance reminds professional excavators, landscapers, contractors and anyone else who breaks ground to contact 811 before they dig. According to CGA’s annual Damage Information Reporting Tool Report, more than half of annual reported damages (55.3%) were caused by professional contractors. The most common root cause of these damages was “no notification made to the 811 center,” meaning the damages could have been avoided if excavators contacted 811 to have utility lines marked prior to breaking ground. This trend has been consistent year-over-year and reflects deeper challenges in the efficiency … Read more

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Common Ground Alliance’s Damage Prevention Institute Acquires Gold Shovel Association, Welcomes New Participants

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Common Ground Alliance has completed its acquisition of the Gold Shovel Association. CGA welcomes former GSA members to the association and as participants in its new arm, the Damage Prevention Institute. The Damage Prevention Institute will address systemic inefficiencies in the damage prevention industry by developing performance metrics for all stakeholders that reflect adherence to CGA’s best practices and a commitment to reducing damages to buried infrastructure. Building upon CGA’s foundational Damage Information Reporting Tool data and GSA’s metrics development, the DPI will focus on evaluating the performance of each stakeholder group engaged in the damage prevention process through a … Read more

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Sam Hall Announced as Vice President of Common Ground Alliance’s Damage Prevention Institute                

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Common Ground Alliance announced Sam Hall will join as vice president of the Damage Prevention Institute. The newly created DPI will utilize data and statistics to generate insights and efficiencies that will reduce the rate of damages to buried infrastructure. Hall brings more than two decades of industry experience and a strong regulatory background to his new position as vice president, where he will lead the DPI’s development of stakeholder metrics to drive efficiencies in the damage prevention system. Hall will also collaborate with industry leaders and key CGA committees to create a peer-reviewed accreditation process. Prior to joining CGA, Hall served as senior program … Read more

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Common Ground Alliance Publishes White Paper on Improving Delivery of Accurate, On-Time Locates

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Common Ground Alliance has published a white paper based on recent research among locating stakeholders that points to an often-strained damage prevention system. The CGA white paper, Insights into Improving the Delivery of Accurate, On-Time Locates, analyzes data from a survey of more than 400 locate technicians, information gleaned from in-depth interviews with 20 locating managers and industry decision makers and damage data from CGA’s 2019 DIRT Report to paint a picture of how the locating industry is working to manage the increasing volume and complexity of tickets. As the 2019 DIRT Report details, one call transmissions continue to rise and, in … Read more

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Common Ground Alliance Launches ‘Next Practices’ Initiative

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Common Ground Alliance has launched its Next Practices Initiative. This initiative will focus on driving innovative solutions to solve challenges that the damage prevention industry faces. CGA’s Best Practices focus on the “identification of the best practices in place” and are the preeminent guide for underground safety and damage prevention. CGA’s Next Practices will target the most critical challenges facing the damage prevention industry by bringing together leaders from across CGA’s 16 stakeholder groups to discuss these increasingly complex challenges and encourage innovative solutions. The purpose of the Next Practices Initiative will be to: encourage innovation and new practices to address the … Read more

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