Underground Utility Strikes Stats and Facts
FACTS
CAUSES OF UNDERGROUND STRIKES
- Inadequate excavation procedures (Inattention/lack of awareness, Not following procedure, No protective systems, Clearance not maintained, Misuse of tools/equipment, Lack of supervision, Service markup not maintained,)
- Insufficient survey practices (Insufficient survey practices (use of locating equipment), Inadequate survey)
- Inaccurate and missing underground utility location information inaccurate plans, Assets not on relevant plans.
- Inadequate work planning (Inadequate assessment of works, Insufficient time allowed)
- Insufficient skills (Insufficient competency, Insufficient gang skills)
- Failure to notify prior to digging (quantified as either failure to call or an incorrect/incomplete request submission) is the biggest individual factor contributing to damages.
- U.S. and the U.K. statistics reveal that a quarter of underground utility damage is attributable to locating issues including inaccurate maps, missing data and problems with underground locating equipment.
STATS
- 63 % of utility strikes occur because the excavation practices or locating practices were insufficient. Despite implementing industry-leading standards for avoiding underground utility strikes, hitting utilities on our jobsites.
- In 2017, U.S. and Canadian contractors and others on excavation job sites experienced work interruptions, struck utility lines or had a “near miss” with underground lines on a job site more than 400,000 times total. More than 316,000 of those utility strikes damaged either the utility lines themselves, excavating equipment on the job site or both.
- Of the damage included in the most recent Common Ground Alliance Damage Information Reporting Tool report for 2017, 52% were the result of “insufficient excavation practices.” Almost one-fourth of all utility strikes CGA reported were the direct result of the contractor or excavator operator failing to notify the nearest one-call center that designates the location of subsurface water, gas and electric lines prior to excavating.
- Underground utility damage is unfortunately common, as over 450,000 damage incidents were reported in 2019, according to the Common Ground Alliance (CGA)’s annual report.