Common Ground Alliance2017

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Common Ground Study / CGA• Congress passed Transportation Equity Act for 21st

Century in 1998. Legislation called for USDOT to conduct a study of best practices in place nationwidefor enhancing worker safety, protecting vital underground infrastructure and ensuring public safety during excavation activities conducted in the vicinity of existing underground facilities.

Establishment of CGA• 160 Stakeholders Participated in Study• Completed in 1999: 132 Best Practices

published with consensus support from all involved.

• Common Ground Alliance established in 2000 to support industry efforts to continue the implementation and development of the Damage Prevention Best Practices.

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16 Stakeholder GroupsRepresenting…

Gas DistributionGas TransmissionElectricTelecommunicationsOilPublic WorksRailroad

ExcavatorsRoad Builders

Equipment Engineering/DesignInsuranceEmergency Services

State and Federal Regulators

One Call CentersLocators

Member Driven Organization…

CGA Core Programs• Best Practices• Educational Programs• Data Reporting and Evaluation (DIRT)• Stakeholder Advocacy• One Call Systems International (OCSI)• Technology

Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT)

• Collects damage and near miss data• Voluntary• Secure, on-line database• Can report one-at-a time, or bulk by Excel file• Managed by a proven committee process

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What data is collected?A. Who is submitting dataB. Date and Location of

the eventC. Affected Facility

InformationD. Excavation InformationE. Notification

F. Locating and MarkingG. Excavator DowntimeH: Description of Damage I: Description of the Root

CauseJ. Additional Comments

(Character Limit: 4000)

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DIRT Report• Collection of data on over

350,000 events• Analysis & Recommendations

Published each year• DIRT Report for 2015

published in October 2016 –Provides key action items for damage prevention stakeholders.

Root Cause

Groups

38% 38% 40%

47% 50% 50%45%

34%32%

32%

26%26% 25%

30%

24%25% 21% 18% 16% 17% 18%

3% 4%1%

1% 1% 1% 1%

1% 1%

5%7% 7% 7% 6%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Dam

ages

Excavation practices not sufficient Notification NOT made Locating practices not sufficient

Notification practices not sufficient Miscellaneous root causes

Interactive Dashboard Introduced

last year

Interactive Dashboard(access from

commongroundalliance.com)

Estimated

$-

$200,000

$400,000

$600,000

$800,000

$1,000,000

$1,200,000

-

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

700,000

800,000

900,000

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Con

stru

ctio

n sp

endi

ng (m

illio

ns o

f 200

5 do

llars

)

Exc

avat

ion

dam

ages

to

unde

rgro

und

utili

ties

(U

.S.)

Construction spending

Estimated range of damages.

Damages submitted

20,884

269,081811 launched

U.S. TotalDamages

675,000 estimated damages in 2004

317,000 estimated damages in 2015

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Best Practices

– Version 14.0 Published March 2017– Approximately 155 practices developed

by consensus – Must actually be in use somewhere– Many have become law in certain states– Distribution of 20,000 Books Annually

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Best Practices Chapters– Planning & Design– One Call Center– Locating & Marking– Excavation

– Mapping– Compliance– Public Education– Reporting & Evaluation

Best Practices Icons

Educational Programs811 / Safe Digging Process

811 Goal: Reduce damages by increasing awareness of 811 and driving homeowners/excavators to notify the one call center prior to digging.

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TechnologyGOAL: Stimulate awareness and use of technologies that enable CGA best practices and/or mitigate damage risk as identified through DIRT data analysis.

Stakeholder Advocacy CommitteeEstablished – June 2012

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CGA Today…• Over 1,700 members• Almost 240 member organizations/companies• 69 Sponsors (Bronze, Silver, Gold & Platinum)• 5 staff members

• Since the Founding of CGA:– Excavation Damage removed from NTSB’s “Top 10” list– 811 3-digit dialing introduced in 2007– 12 Annual DIRT Reports released– DIRT growth from 21,884 reports in 2004 to >390,000 for 2016

–Damages down approximately 50%

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