Every year, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) provides funding opportunities to states and stakeholders to improve and protect pipeline safety. One way that is done is by promoting the “damage prevention” process – known by many as the “Call Before You Dig” program. Through a number of…
If there is one thing the latest Common Ground Alliance (CGA) Technology Report makes clear, it is that the damage prevention ecosystem has an embarrassment of riches on its hands in terms of technological innovation. Indeed, a review of other CGA studies and publications along with reports by various regulatory…
PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release: Wednesday, July 27, 2022 CONTACT: John Cassibry, jcassibry@aii.org Washington, D.C, July 27, 2022 — The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) released its latest white paper, Consensus Around Technologies: The Key Communications Technologies that Need to be Adopted to Improve Efficiency and Reduce Excavation…
I have studied damage prevention for several years. From reading reports and best practice guides to ride alongs with locators and even calling in an 811 locate request, I felt like I had a good understanding. But it was this summer when I made an online homeowner locate request that…
Looking ahead to the year 2030, we hope to see technology integrated into virtually every activity we do. For damage prevention, this is not merely aspirational, it is a necessity. Fortunately, industry groups have already cast this vision, stating in the latest Common Ground Alliance (CGA) Technology Report that the…
Up to this point, we have explored a range of benefits that accrue from the use of technology in the damage prevention process. Not only is technology vital to avoiding damage, but it makes the process more efficient, reduces environmental hazards, enables cost savings, and more. One final benefit emerges…
Every year, nearly $100 billion are lost in the U.S. economy due to excavation damage and the inefficiencies in the system designed to prevent them. With systemic issues unaddressed, these costs are poised to keep rising year after year. What is even worse, Congress enacted a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package…
Constructing new infrastructure, buildings, or even planting trees all require breaking ground. These excavation projects use shovels, augers, jackhammers, backhoes, and other excavation equipment to scrape away earth and make way for new foundations, new pipelines, and new facilities. The problem is that this often threatens the subsurface infrastructure already…
This blog series Technology Highlight has explored many of the ways that investments in innovation lead to better outcomes for infrastructure and public safety. When technology advances, it often becomes cheaper, more widely available and accessible, and helps facilitate faster, safer, and greener projects. This is…
This blog series Technology Highlight explores some of the ways that investments in innovation lead to better outcomes for infrastructure and public safety. When technology advances, it often becomes cheaper, more widely available and accessible, and helps facilitate faster, safer, and greener projects. This series launched by highlighting the…
This blog series Technology Highlight explores some of the ways that investments in innovation lead to better outcomes for infrastructure and public safety. When technology advances, it often becomes cheaper, more widely available and accessible, and helps facilitate faster, safer, and greener projects. This series launched by…
Excavation damages to underground infrastructure – or more simply, digging projects that hit things like pipelines and internet cables – are on a five year upswing. Every year, more sensitive and critical infrastructure is being struck, damaged, and shuttered. Shovels and power tools breaking ground and hitting these unseen service…
PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release: Tuesday, May 25, 2021 CONTACT: John Cassibry, jcassibry@aii.org Washington, D.C, May 25, 2021 — The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) released its newest policy brief, Building Back Better And Protecting What We’ve Built. The brief details the rising nationwide crisis of excavation damage…
The recent Colonial pipeline cyber attack and ensuing disruption implicates excavation damage prevention. As industry stakeholders continue to strengthen their damage prevention systems, greater use and reliance on effective technology will be critical. Damage Prevention is the overarching process of avoiding harm to pipelines and other underground infrastructure when digging…
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…
