Washington D.C, District of Columbia – December 31, 2020 – The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) today released a new report for industry leaders and public officials entitled Improving Upon Our Dig Laws: Proactive Steps to Combat Five Years of Rising Excavation Damage.
As a result of a five-year upward climb in excavation damages accompanied by over $30 billion in damage costs, Aii discusses the latest DIRT Report published by the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) to determine how best to implement their recommendations and further enhance their advocacy. After praising CGA’s own recommendations, Aii offers two additional recommendations to reverse the trend in excavation damage going forward.
The first recommendation is for CGA to create a new best practice certification program for its members. This would avoid rules and regulations, but provide a more intentional way to cultivate better use of best practices, while also providing better statistics for CGA on best practice use and damage rates.
The second recommendation is for policymakers to establish new technology thresholds to require enhanced information sharing in the damage prevention process. This may include a broad federal rule with narrower state-implementing regulations.
The latest DIRT Report, published this fall, proves just how cognizant CGA is of the many challenges the industry will continue to face unless top-to-bottom systemic changes are made, including the adoption of structural and system reforms, and the implementation of innovative technology. In accord with CGA’s recommendations, Aii calls on industry participants and policymakers to take a more proactive best practices approach and implement proven technology with a track record of reducing excavation damage.
To learn more, read the report here.
To learn more about state laws, read our 2020 Damage Prevention Report Card
Written by Andrew Jefferis, Media Coordinator
The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) is an independent, national, educational organization dedicated to identifying our nation’s infrastructure needs, creating awareness of those needs, and finding solutions to critical public policy challenges. Aii strives to promote proven, innovative technology and higher safety standards in a non-partisan manner to achieve excellence nationwide.