We will be taking calls for emergency locates only on Friday, Dec. 31st in observance of New Year's Day, but remember, you can file a ticket online 24/7. NOTE: Monday will not count towards your standard 48 hour notice when filing a locate, so please plan accordingly.
We will be taking calls for emergency locates only on Thursday, Dec. 23rd and Friday, Dec. 24th for Christmas, but remember, you can file a ticket online 24/7. NOTE: Monday and Tuesday will not count towards your standard 48 hour notice when filing a locate, so please plan accordingly.
Underground utility damages have a significant impact on communities in Minnesota and beyond. According to the Common Ground Alliance (CGA), the estimated annual societal cost of damages to buried utilities in the United States is $30 billion, accounting for direct and indirect costs. Even near-misses can potentially cause scheduling issues and lost time on the job.
Each year, the CGA collects information about damages and near-misses from facility owners, locators and excavators in North America who voluntarily submit via the Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT). The results are then published in the annual DIRT Report, along with summaries, analyses and best practice recommendations.
The 2020 DIRT Report, published in September 2021, includes data from more than 475,000 damage event submissions that the CGA received in 2020. Of that number, 4,542 events came from Minnesota—up from 4,308 in 2019 and 3,567 in 2018. Below is an overview of the key takeaways and trends. CGA members can also access the full 87-page DIRT report on the CGA website.
We will be taking calls for emergency locates only on Thursday, Nov. 25th and Friday, Nov. 26th in observance of Thanksgiving, but remember, you can file a ticket online 24/7. NOTE: Thursday and Friday will not count towards your standard 48 hour notice when filing a locate, so please plan accordingly.Upcoming Holidays
Here is a list of the remaining 2021 holidays observed by GSOC:
Thanksgiving Day – Thursday, November 25, 2021
Friday after Thanksgiving – Friday, November 26, 2021
Christmas Eve – Thursday, December 23, 2021 (observed)
Christmas Day – Friday, December 24, 2021 (observed)
New Year’s Day – Friday, December 31, 2021 (observed)
Damage prevention conferences are invaluable opportunities to network, discuss best practices and compare notes on how we can all work together to minimize damages. These events also foster a sense of shared responsibility by allowing us to make personal connections with others involved with damage prevention.
Because of the pandemic, in-person conferences and meetings have been less common over the past two years. But this fall saw the return of two key damage prevention conferences: the Users’ Group meeting (hosted by One Call Concepts for the company’s notification center clients) in Palm Springs in September, and the Common Ground Alliance Conference & Expo in Orlando in October.
Both conferences gave notification centers, facility operators, excavators, locators and others involved in underground utility damage prevention a long-awaited chance to meet and compare notes on topics such as technology and trends, how the pandemic has affected our work and how we can all work better together moving forward. Here are some of the highlights:
