DIRT Report

DPI’s Role in Developing Next-Generation Metrics and Rapid Data Analysis

As CGA continues to drive damage prevention industry data collection, standardization and analysis, the Damage Prevention Institute (DPI) plays a crucial role in creating an environment of shared accountability for all stakeholders. The purpose of the the DPI is to deliver additional insights into the systemic behaviors that lead to improved safety outcomes in the damage prevention industry.

Reporting requirements for DPI participants are established through a collaborative process involving the DPI Metrics Committee, the DPI Advisory Committee and the CGA Board of Directors. Monthly reporting of damages into DIRT is mandatory for CGA members participating in the DPI. This rigorous reporting schedule is designed to enhance our ability to react more quickly to damage data trends. Currently, DPI-eligible stakeholders include excavators, locators, design and engineering firms, and facility owner/operators, each playing a vital role in the damage prevention ecosystem.

The DPI Metrics Committee works closely with CGA’s Data Committee to collaborate on cross- industry data initiatives supporting damage prevention. As DPI matures and expands to include additional stakeholders, it can provide mechanisms for helping the industry improve DIRT DQI and standardize metrics for key areas of inquiry like on-time and accurate locating.

DPI Data Insights

Preliminary analysis of the data collected from DPI participants has already yielded valuable insights. For example, DPI identified that participating companies with 10-49 employees have a higher damage rate compared to both smaller and larger companies. This finding may be attributed to variations in the maturity of damage prevention programs among companies of different sizes. These insights are instrumental in shaping how CGA can best support its members through targeted peer reviews, education and other DPI program activities.

The Relationship Between DPI and DQI

High-quality data quality is essential for effective analysis in DPI. Participants are required to submit more complete DIRT reports than typical DIRT users. These enhanced submissions result in a higher DQI for DPI data, providing a more comprehensive dataset for analysis.

Analysis of the 2023 DIRT dataset reveals that DPI participants achieve a higher average DQI compared to non-participants, which in turn raises the overall DQI of the entire DIRT dataset. This improvement in data quality enhances the reliability and usefulness of the collected information for industry-wide analysis and decision-making.

Performance-Driven Industry Benchmarking

Baseline performance metrics have been developed for each stakeholder group to ensure comprehensive evaluation. Excavators, for instance, are measured on their damage rate, which is calculated as the number of damages caused by excavator practices per 10,000 work hours. For locators, the metrics focus on marking timeliness and damages attributable to locator performance. Facility owner/operators are evaluated on their management of mapping processes and their handling of trouble locate tickets.

The DPI Metrics Committee has established three task teams to refine our measurement framework. These teams focus on evaluating DPI metrics to ensure they are meaningful and support improvement across the industry.

Excavator Metrics

DEFINITIONS

Work hours are defined as: actual work hours, per state. Hours worked should include all employee work hours (including all types of work, projects and customers) over the month per state for the entire organization. If work hours are not available for employees on salary or commission, hours worked may be estimated on the basis of scheduled hours or eight hours per workday (per OSHA’s TRIR calculation definition of work hours).

Locator Metrics

DEFINITIONS

Locate ticket is defined as: Each locate request issued by the 811 center with a unique identifier, excluding damage tickets, design tickets, or tickets that do not require a mark-out or clear. These include refresh/renewal tickets, even if the original ticket number does not change. For example, tickets #12345 and #12345-rev1 are counted separately. For single- locate tickets that require marking more than one underground facility type, count each facility type separately.

On-time locates are defined as: Those considered in compliance with the corresponding state law and/or regulatory requirements.

Facility Owner/Operator Metrics

DEFINITIONS

Trouble locate ticket is defined as: A trouble ticket occurs when, upon initial arrival at the location, the tolerance zone for an existing facility cannot be established with confidence consistent with the law and the owner/operator’s requirements. A trouble locate ticket is escalated internally for advanced/enhanced resolution measures (e.g., vacuum truck, line tracer, ground penetrating radar, in-line 3D gyro mapping technology, etc.).

Mapping records updates are defined as: Any changes to mapping records associated with new facilities and any facility work that requires a modification to existing mapping records.

Peer Review Encourages Improved Performance and Collaborative Problem-Solving

The DPI has also implemented a peer review model aimed at fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing within the industry. The goal of this model is for participants to share key successes and challenges in reducing dig-ins to buried infrastructure, and to collaborate on industry benchmarking and systemic improvements.

Following a pilot program in spring 2024, which received positive feedback from participating excavators, a more robust peer review process is set to launch in fall 2024. Participants in the pilot program noted that it helped connect and build a network where learning and understanding of common challenges and solutions could be shared to influence the entire damage prevention industry.

Accreditation Requires Leadership Commitment

Participation in the DPI is synonymous with seeking DPI accreditation and fulfilling data submission and peer review responsibilities. While some stakeholders may choose to require DPI participation from their contractors, CGA does not mandate participation for any organization.

Stakeholder-specific accreditation criteria have been established to enhance damage prevention through shared accountability. Accreditation from the DPI demonstrates an organization’s leadership in damage prevention through commitment to true shared accountability.

The Value of DPI

The value of the DPI extends beyond individual organizational performance documentation. By enabling comparisons to industry benchmarks and facilitating analysis of behaviors that lead to different damage prevention outcomes, the DPI fosters a culture of continuous improvement. Achieving reductions in damages requires individual organizations in the industry to be accountable for their shared responsibilities. The program creates healthy competition regarding improved safety, while peer reviews empower participants to enhance their performance with the support of industry peers.

Looking ahead, CGA is actively developing interactive dashboards and data views that will allow participants to visualize their own performance in comparison to their peers. These tools, slated for release by the end of 2024, will provide valuable insights while maintaining data privacy through anonymization and password protection. As the DPI continues to evolve, it promises to be an invaluable resource in the ongoing effort to reduce damages to underground infrastructure and improve safety across the industry.

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