2020 DIRT Report Reveals Damage Prevention Challenges Continue Amidst Global Pandemic

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Common Ground Alliance has released the findings from its 2020 Damage Information Reporting Tool Report. The report analyzed all 2020 data submitted voluntarily by facility operators, utility locating companies, one call centers, contractors, regulators and others from the U.S. and Canada using an in-depth statistical modeling process. The results of this analysis found that an estimated 468,000 excavation-related damages to underground facilities occurred in the U.S. in 2020. Construction activity was down 4.2% in 2020 from 2019 as measured by construction spending and adjusting for steep inflation in building materials and supplies that occurred in 2020, according to the report’s … Read more

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Annual Common Ground Alliance DIRT Report Reveals Utility Damages Continue Upward Trend

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Common Ground Alliance announced the findings from its 2019 Damage Information Reporting Tool Report. The report analyzed all 2019 data submitted voluntarily by facility operators, utility locating companies, one call centers, contractors, regulators and others from the U.S. and Canada using an in-depth statistical modeling process. The results of this analysis found that an estimated 532,000 excavation-related damages to underground facilities occurred in the U.S. in 2019, a 4.5% increase compared to the 2018 estimate of 509,000 damages. The report also examined the direct and indirect costs of damaging underground infrastructure, and estimated that the societal costs totaled approximately $30 billion … 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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Inaugural White Paper Offers Recommendations for Improved Excavator Training, Outreach 

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Common Ground Alliance has announced the release of a new white paper that offers a blueprint for all stakeholders to increase the effectiveness of their outreach to professional excavators about preventing damage to underground utilities. CGA white paper: Data-Informed Insights and Recommendations for More Effective Excavator Outreach analyzes data from the most recent CGA DIRT Report, a national online survey and in-person focus group sessions conducted with professional excavators, and a study of general public awareness of the 811 “call before you dig” service to offer the following four key takeaways: Continue increasing awareness of 811 through strategic marketing and education campaigns Acknowledge the … Read more

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Common Ground Alliance Estimates Damage to Buried Utilities Increased with Excavation Activity between 2015, 2017

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Common Ground Alliance, the stakeholder-driven organization dedicated to protecting underground utility lines, people who dig near them and their communities, announced its findings and analysis of utility damage and near-miss events in the 2017 Damage Information Reporting Tool Report. The report, which analyzes all 2017 data submitted anonymously and voluntarily by facility operators, utility locating companies, one call centers, contractors, regulators and others, used a refined statistical modeling process to estimate that 439,000 excavation-related damages to underground facilities occurred in 2017, up 5.5 percent from a revised 2016 estimate. CGA, in collaboration with its statistical analysis consultant, Green Analytics, applied … Read more

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