Recently the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) conducted a survey of one call (811) underground utility safety and damage prevention processes among contractors in various construction sectors including heavy water/wastewater, highway/bridge, telecom, gas transmission and distribution, and energy infrastructure contractors. This is particularly interesting because in surveys of underground damage prevention contractors are often not heard from or are a minority of respondents.
The survey found that all of the professional excavators are familiar with their local one call system and its requirements.
Nearly 3/4 of the respondents reported weaknesses in their one call system. Close to 80 % identified the lack of accurate utility locating by facility owner/operators as the weakest element. Over half reported unmarked or mismarked facilities by facility owner/operators responding to a one call notification as the most frequent cause of damages and near miss events. Another frequent problem reported by the respondents was that abandoned facilities were seldom marked by utility owner/operators and were treated as live lines.
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