Efforts Seek to Help with Damage Prevention

Common Ground Alliance (CGA), the stakeholder-run organization dedicated to protecting underground utility lines, people who dig near them, and their communities, has announced findings from its comprehensive 2016 Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) Report.

The report (the sum of all 2016 data submitted anonymously and voluntarily by facility operators, utility locating companies, one call centers, contractors, regulators, and others) estimates that:

The total number of underground excavation damages in the U.S. last year rose 20 percent from the year prior, to approximately 379,000, and conservatively cost direct stakeholders at least $1.5 billion.

You can read CGA’s full press release on the findings of the 2016 DIRT Report here.
 
Be sure to check out the DIRT Interactive Dashboard to filter data through various lenses that are importance to your region, state or stakeholder group. A new dashboard feature centers on PHMSA’s determinations on the adequacy of state damage prevention programs, and users can also now compare 2015 and 2016 data via the Interactive Dashboard.

If you’d like to provide feedback on the most recent DIRT Report or have questions, please click here.