30 Mar CGA Applauds NULCA Paper on “System Designed to Fail”
CGA Applauds NULCA Paper on “System Designed to Fail”
Paper and statement call for changes, collaboration on utility damage prevention challenges
WASHINGTON – NULCA (the National Utility Locating Contractors Association) today released a new analysis on systemic challenges in the one-call process and preventing damage to buried utility infrastructure. The paper describes how unmapped or poorly mapped facilities, excessive one-call tickets, surging infrastructure projects and outdated one-call architecture have created an unsustainable situation for locating and safely excavating around buried utilities.
The paper reads in part:
“The 811 system was designed roughly fifty years ago for a world processing less than one million locate requests per year. It was made free to excavators to encourage adoption. That made sense in 1974. … Last year, the system processed more than 43.5 million incoming requests, generating nearly 265 million transmissions to facility operators. The architecture has not changed.”
Common Ground Alliance (CGA), the national non-profit association dedicated to protecting underground utility lines and the people who dig near them, today issued a statement on the NULCA analysis. Sarah Magruder Lyle, President and CEO of CGA and Executive Director of the Damage Prevention Action Center (DPAC), stated:
“NULCA’s new paper underscores the urgent need for all stakeholders – facility owners, excavators, locators and policymakers – to embrace their shared accountability to protect vital underground infrastructure. The Common Ground Alliance and the Damage Prevention Action Center are committed to facilitating the collaboration necessary to address systemic challenges, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the 811 system, and achieve our collective goal of significant damage reduction. This, however, requires all stakeholders to commit to addressing these issues.”
Background: Each year, buried utility lines are damaged nearly 200,000 times by digging, at an annual cost of $30 billion nationwide. More than 30 million of miles of buried power, water, electric, fiber, natural gas and other utilities run underground across America. This buried infrastructure is at risk from multiple systemic challenges including inadequate facility mapping, contracts that are not performance based, a surge in data center and other infrastructure construction, and insufficient workforce to accurately locate buried utilities. Consequences of damage to these utilities range from disruption of critical services to injuries and fatalities.
About CGA: Common Ground Alliance (CGA) is a member-driven association of nearly 4,000 damage prevention professionals spanning every facet of the underground utility industry. Established in 2000, CGA is committed to saving lives and preventing damage to North American underground infrastructure by promoting effective damage prevention practices. CGA has established itself as the preeminent source of damage prevention data and information in an effort to reduce damages to underground facilities through shared responsibility among all stakeholders.
About DPAC: The Damage Prevention Action Center advocates for public policies and industry practices that protect our Nation’s critical underground utility infrastructure and those who work and live near these important assets. DPAC focuses on educating policymakers at the federal, state and local levels on the importance of updating and enacting laws and regulations to meet the needs of today by implementing effective damage prevention policies, as well as understanding the significant economic, environmental, safety and social impacts of dig-ins on communities.