2019 DIRT REPORT
Leading Damage Root Causes and Corresponding Best Practices •
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Several of the top damage root causes correspond with Best Practices that lack specificity or practicality, likely reflecting the difficulty of achieving consensus from all 16 CGA stakeholder groups on a definitive practice that addresses some of the industry’s most challenging issues. Specific recommendations for examining Best Practices are offered.
The CGA Best Practices manual includes more than 160 practices that cover all phases of the safe digging process, agreed to by each of CGA’s 16 stakeholder groups. All practices go through a seven-step process that includes review by a task team, the full Best Practices Committee, and finally the CGA Board of Directors. Two fundamental principles must apply for a Best Practice to be adopted by CGA—it must: 1. Actually be in use in the field, and 2. Achieve consensus from representatives of all CGA Stakeholder groups. A description of the process can be found here: https://bestpractices.commongroundalliance.com/1Introduction/104-Best-Practices-Process. In this section, we relate the leading damage root causes to corresponding Best Practices and the fivestep safe excavation process (where applicable) and offer opportunities for how practices could be strengthened. In some cases, the Best Practices that correspond to leading root causes are vague—more a generalization of a desired outcome than concrete steps on how to get there, which is likely a reflection of how difficult consensus is to achieve on these issues. The low-hanging-fruit has been harvested and what remains is the need to coalesce around the more difficult issues. It’s important to note that behavior and work practices are also influenced by technology, enforcement, one call center policies and education, but for the purposes of this section, we are focusing on CGA Best Practices. No Locate Request (NOTIFY): 5.1 One Call Facility Locate Request: Practice Statement: The excavator requests the location of underground facilities at each site by notifying the facility owner/operator through the one call center. Unless otherwise specified in state/provincial law, the excavator calls the one call center at least two working days and no more than ten working days prior to beginning excavation. Update Opportunity: Consider updating to reflect three-digit dialing (811) which was introduced in 2007, and that electronic notifications have become the predominant method of one call center notices. Excavator Dug Before Valid Start Date/Time (WAIT/CONFIRM): No Best Practice specifically recommends that the excavator WAIT, although it is implied by Best Practices 5.8, 5.9 and 5.10:
COMMON GROUND ALLIANCE
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