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analysis of consistent 2020-2022 data which considered additional variables including weather, population and infrastructure density further confirms that damages were at best flat and likely increasing.
The analysis of 2022 data indicates
that a few persistent challenges are responsible for nearly 76% of damages that occur, including no notification to the 811 center; failure to pothole and/or maintain sufficient clearance; facilities not marked or marked inaccurately due to locator error; and other improper excavation practices. No-notification damages make up more than 25% of all damages, with 77% of no-notification damages attributed to professional excavators. Focusing industry efforts and outreach on these top challenges is key to achieving 50-in-5.
The Report urges stakeholders to commit to working within organizations and across stakeholder groups to generate new solutions to the persistent, systemic issues causing the majority of damages. Recommendations provided
to address specific root cause groups included:
• No-Notification Root Cause: Focus excavator outreach on behavioral change—namely consistent and effective use of 811—and help restore excavator confidence in the system through improved locating processes.
• Excavation Root Causes: Prioritize tolerance zone safety, address contracts to provide adequate compensation for potholing and provide excavators with access to map visualizations.
• Locator Error Root Causes: Enhance facility maps to GIS-grade, address contract structures to emphasize timeliness and accuracy, and increase efficiency through effective use of the 811 system.
As more organizations become DPI accredited and submit metrics on a monthly basis, CGA and DPI look forward to expanding the range of analysis and recommendations. CGA is also developing a DIRT index to better help quantify damages annually and evaluate 50-in-5 progress.
New telecom research
CGA’s recently released white paper, “Telecom’s Critical Role in Reversing Utility Damage Trends,” analyzes information gathered from 17 in-depth interviews with telecom leaders as well as data from a survey of more than 500 damage prevention industry professionals.
This new telecom industry research underscores the impact that this sector has on the U.S damage prevention system. According to 2022 DIRT data, telecom facilities sustained more damage than any other utility type, while telecom work contributed to
the majority of damages to buried infrastructure. Similarly, telecom companies are more likely to deliver late locates of their own facilities,
but are also most likely to have work delayed by late locates. As $65 billion in federal funding is being deployed
to expand high-speed internet across the Nation concurrently with hundreds of billions of federal and state dollars going to additional infrastructure improvements, CGA’s new research calls for the telecom sector to make damage prevention a priority.
CGA’s Telecom White Paper summarizes quantitative data from the survey and qualitative information from in-depth telecom stakeholder interviews and consolidates them into four key takeaways:
1. The telecom sector has the most potential to impact the U.S. damage prevention system – and its own bottom line.
2. Growth and customer satisfaction are prioritized over damage prevention by many telecom stakeholders.
3. Rather than focus on long-term national standardization strategies to reduce damages, telecom can achieve more timely results by improving internal practices and contracts.
4. Securing executive-level buy-in from telecom facility owner/operators on rigorous damage prevention standards will be necessary to reverse the upward trend of damages to U.S. infrastructure.
Accurate, accessible facility maps are foundational to success
Whether examining top damage
root causes reported to DIRT or reviewing CGA’s in-depth stakeholder research related to telecom, locating and excavating stakeholders, one foundational communication tool comes up again and again: accurate, accessible facility maps.
Without up-to-date, GPS-grade facility maps accessible in a GIS environment, we are asking locators and excavators to do their jobs without the best possible information. CGA’s Next Practices Initiative has highlighted this issue in both of its industry reports and has also documented a first-of-its-kind pilot program out of Minnesota that serves as a model for how the industry could transform.
The ambitious Minnesota Utilities Mapping Project (MUMP) aims to provide real-time, ticket-level mapped visualizations of underground utilities to accredited designers, locators and excavators to improve the damage prevention system’s efficiency and outcomes. The pilot project leveraged widely accessible technology to
create a tool that has the potential to revolutionize the viewing of underground utility maps for major stakeholder groups.
Led by Gopher State One Call with input from the Minnesota Geospatial Advisory Council, the pilot program uses an open-source software solution that connects to the GSOC ticketing system and captures all relevant ticket information, including the geographic area indicated on the ticket. The program then returns a digital report of the area of interest in the form of
a visualization of buried facility data, which can be accessible to end users, including designers, locators, excavators and others, for the life of the 811 ticket.
Innovation wins
To achieve the 50-in-5 goal, innovative and data-driven approaches like the Minnesota Utilities Mapping Project must become the norm rather than the exception. CGA looks forward to working with our members to make dramatic strides over the next several years.
2024, Issue 2 Texas811 • 7