PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: July 22, 2024
CONTACT: Andrew Jefferis, ajefferis@aii.org
Washington, D.C., July 22, 2024 – The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) has released a new report, “Excavation Damage Reporting: The Basics of Data Collection and How States Require Strikes and Near Misses to Be Reported.” This paper provides an overview of the diverse ways states across the U.S. mandate reporting of excavation-related damages to underground infrastructure. Each year, excavation activities cause substantial damage to pipelines, cables, and wires, leading to tens of billions in economic costs and posing risks to public safety, the environment, and infrastructure reliability. Aii’s report highlights examples from the varying reporting frameworks across all 50 states.
Key findings include:
- While every damage in every state requires a report to the utility owner/operator in order to address the damaged infrastructure, not every damage is required to be reported to a public body or nonprofit for the purpose of learning from excavation damages.
- Many states require reporting to a state entity, but not all states seem to require that all damage be reported along with root cause analyses from any investigation. It is not always clear if the information is publicly available for researchers and stakeholders.
- No aggregation of state reports appears to be occurring either, leaving an incredible missed opportunity given the many requirements to report across the states. If these were all collected, the benefit to industry leaders and policymakers would be significant.
“Aii’s report emphasizes the importance of clear, consistent, effective reporting requirements in law to safeguard infrastructure and public safety in the long-term,” said Andrew Jefferis, Media Coordinator for Aii.
Read the report here.
For questions, interviews, or other media inquiries, please email Aii Media Coordinator, Andrew Jefferis, ajefferis@aii.org.