October 2024
Dear Damage Prevention Stakeholders,
The 2023 DIRT Report and Interactive Dashboard introduce an important new tool in our industry's ongoing efforts to enhance excavation safety: the CGA Index. Much like other indices that measure economic or industry trends, the CGA Index serves as a benchmarking tool for year-over-year progress in U.S. damage prevention.
In its debut year, the CGA Index model shows a six-point reduction in damages from our 2022 baseline. While this initial decline is encouraging, it also underscores the considerable work ahead to reach our goal of reducing damages by 50% over five years. The Index will be instrumental in establishing new areas of damage analysis, measuring progress and focusing our work in the coming years.
The 2023 DIRT data tells a story of both persistent challenges and emerging solutions. The top six damage root causes have remained stubbornly consistent, accounting for 76% of incidents for the third consecutive year. Examining late locate data from 811 centers confirmed a troubling finding: In 2023, excavators faced 50/50 odds as to whether they were able to begin work on time - essentially a coin toss. This hampers efficiency, erodes trust in the entire 811 system and puts lives at risk. Addressing this challenge head-on must be a priority for every stakeholder in the coming year.
Yet amidst these challenges, stakeholders are establishing innovative methods to address some of the most significant obstacles. In Georgia new "excavation readiness" metric provides a model for measuring locating timeliness. New Mexico's unique enforcement mechanism, including "warning locate requests," is creating real accountability in the locating process. In Minnesota, a pilot program providing GPS-enabled utility locating devices is demonstrating how we can leverage technology to improve facility mapping and locating efficiency.