CGA Releases 2009 DIRT Report

The Common Ground Alliance has released its report on the 2009 information gathered through the Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) concerning damage to underground utility facilities. Estimated damages and DIRT events have decreased, but for the first time the Data Reporting and Evaluation Committee at CGA is looking at how these decreases may have been affected by the overall decrease in construction activity. Unfortunately the report indicates that the root cause "Excavation Practices Not Sufficient" now makes up the largest group in the data set. However, the report does concede that Natural Gas and Telecommunications stakeholders submit the majority of data, so the resulting data set favors the causes they submit. Among excavators, the root cause most submitted is "Locating Practices Not Sufficient."  In contrast, locators report a low percentage of events involving "Locating Practices Not Sufficient," and a high percentage involving "Excavation Practices Not Sufficient." The report also identifies other reporting stakeholders that select "Locating Practices Not Sufficient," but are overshadowed in the overall dataset, such as Public Works, Private Water, Engineering, Road Builder, Railroad and One Call. Read the report here. For more information, contact Scott Berry at (703) 837-5321 or berrys@agc.org.