Underground Construction - December 2018 - 12

Revamped CGA DIRT Report Estimates Increased
Damage to Buried Utilities

C

Common Ground Alliance (CGA),
the stakeholder-driven organization dedicated to protecting underground utility lines,
people who dig near them and
their communities, recently announced its findings and analysis
of utility damage and near-miss
events in the 2017 Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT)
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 a new
approach to estimating total U.S.
damages for 2017, as well as the
previous two years. It found that
while estimated damages increased year-over-year from 2015
to 2016 and again from 2016 to
2017, when excavation activity
is considered, damages have
effectively plateaued during this
three-year span. This is measured
by ratios of damages to construction spending and damages to
utility locate notifications from
one-call centers to their member
facility operators.
The 2017 DIRT Report, for the
first time, includes an analysis of
when damages occur, by month

12

DECEMBER 2018 | UConOnline.com

and day of the week, leading to
several findings that can help
damage prevention stakeholders
best target their public awareness
messages. Specifically, the report
found the following:
* Damages that occurred on a
weekend were nearly twice as
likely to have involved hand
tools (shovels, post-hole
diggers, etc.) than those that
occurred on a weekday.
* 50 percent of all reported
damages occurred between
June and September in 2017.
* August was the month with
the most total damages in
2017.
Among all damage reports
with an identified and known
root cause, the majority (52.2
percent) occurred because of
insufficient excavation practices,
continuing a trend from recent
years where this was the top
identified root cause in the DIRT
Report. Other identified root
causes were as follows:
* Notification not made - 23.5
percent
* Locating practices not sufficient - 16.8 percent
* Miscellaneous - 6.5 percent
* Notification practices not sufficient - 1.0 percent

Staying current
"As the leading source of utility
damage data and analysis, CGA is
constantly evaluating the statistical models we use to ensure we
are producing the best possible
report to guide our public awareness, education and training

efforts in the damage prevention
industry," said Sarah Magruder
Lyle, president and CEO of CGA.
"The latest DIRT Report shows
that our collective challenge to reduce utility damage is increasing
as excavation activity increases.
"CGA stands ready to support
all damage prevention stakeholders in addressing this challenge
through public awareness campaigns, best practices, regional partnerships, promotion of
new technologies and offering
resources to educate state policymakers on the importance of
balanced and effective enforcement laws."
CGA has made an interactive
DIRT Dashboard accessible to
the public through its website,
allowing users to view and query
the data through the lens of a
specific element, such as damages
by state, root cause analysis, etc.
This dashboard features a series
of visualizations that allow users
to sort information through additional filters, giving damage prevention stakeholders a powerful
tool for identifying areas where
they can have the biggest positive
impact.
"CGA's Data Reporting and

Evaluation Committee took on
a significant challenge during
the past year as we re-evaluated
the way we analyze and report
on submitted data," said Bruce
Campbell, Data Committee cochair from MISS DIG 811, the
one-call center for Michigan.
"DIRT data is one of the best
tools available for any damage
prevention stakeholder who
seeks a better understanding of
why damages occur."
The complete DIRT Annual
Report for 2017 is available for
download at commongroundalliance.com and stakeholders interested in submitting data to the
2018 report or establishing a Virtual Private Dirt account should
visit the DIRT site at www.cgadirt.com.
CGA is a member-driven association of nearly 1,700 individuals, organizations and sponsors
in every facet of the underground
utility industry. Established in
2000, CGA is committed to saving lives and preventing damage
to North American underground
infrastructure by promoting effective damage prevention practices. For more information, visit
commongroundalliance.com.
http://commongroundalliance.com http://commongroundalliance.com http://www.cga-dirt.com http://www.cga-dirt.com http://www.commongroundalliance.com http://www.UConOnline.com
Underground Construction - December 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Construction - December 2018
