The recently released 2018 Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) report from the Canadian Common Ground Alliance (CCGA) shows that there is still a high rate of incidents that result from no notification made to One-Call centres.
The Damage Information Report Tool tracks instances of reported damages or near miss situations across North America as a result of ground disturbance, and evaluates each occurrence to identify trends and areas to improve.
On average, British Columbians damaged 6 underground utilities per work day in 2018, with the primary root cause described as an “excavation issue”. According to the 2018 DIRT Report, 43.7% of reported incidents in BC occurred due to a failure to notify or request a locate from a One-Call Centre.
Across Canada, the majority of instances of damage occurred at an electric or natural gas facility. Damage in these areas poses a significant risk to the safety of the workers involved, as well as the general public. This emphasizes the importance of not just notifying BC 1 Call but also making sure to check surroundings for potential unmarked or unmapped utilities.
The 2018 CCGA DIRT report makes several conclusions, one of which reinforces the importance of spreading the BC 1 Call message:
“No Locates remains a significant issue year after year even if every province has a One-Call Centre where rapid, simple and free service is given to all excavators that are involved in ground disturbances.” - 2018 CCGA DIRT Report
Help us spread the message to click, call, or check before you dig, to ensure that every effort to avoid damaging underground infrastructure has been made.
Would you like to read the full report? Access it here.