The Common Ground Alliance (CGA) — the association of 1,700 individuals, organisations and sponsors involved in every facet of the underground utility industry in the USA — has issued the first of what will be annual reports detailing the state of current and emergent technologies available to the damage prevention industry.
Publication was timed to co-incide with the opening of its annual Excavation Safety Conference & Expo in Phoenix, Arizona held from 6 to 8 March. The report was made available to the more than 800 damage prevention advocates attending the event at which many of the technologies covered in the report were on display.
The report was authored by the CGA’s Technology Committee, charged with driving the industry to develop and use technologies that will decrease the probability or consequences of excavation damages. It is based on responses to a survey of CGA members.
Technology Committee co-chair Thomas Young said: “We’ve worked diligently with CGA members and other stakeholders to make our first Technology Advancements and Gaps in Underground Safety report a thorough accounting of the state of damage prevention technology. The CGA Technology Committee encourages stakeholders to continue submitting information to us via our always-open survey so we can refine and improve the report annually."
The report provides an overview of current technologies available in every sector of damage prevention: locating, excavating, one call, imaging, pipeline data acquisition, data management and visualisation, GIS/GPS/mapping, predictive analytics/risk assessment, mobile data collection, training/education and public awareness.
It concludes with three case studies that share the successes of those deploying new damage prevention technologies.
In addition to highlighting damage prevention technologies in current use the report also identifies available technologies that could have damage prevention applications, and gaps in damage prevention technology.
CGA says it hopes to “inspire innovation in this important area of public safety.”
CGA president and CEO Sarah K Magruder Lyle, said: “the report provides technology developers with an opportunity to examine areas where there are market opportunities for new solutions, and we hope they’ll work towards developing partnerships and advanced technologies that the industry is asking for.
“Our inaugural Technology Report joins our Best Practices Guide and annual DIRT Report as an important resource in advancing our shared goal of zero damages to buried infrastructure.
“Stakeholders in every facet of damage prevention can reference this new report to assess existing technologies that they may be able to apply to their particular segment of the safe digging process.”
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