The Canadian Common Ground Alliance (CCGA) released the 2018 Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) Report in Niagara Falls, Ont., during its annual National Damage Prevention Symposium in October. The report presents characteristics, themes and contributing factors leading to damages in Canada as reported via the DIRT system.

In 2018, there were 11,693 damages reported via DIRT for Canada; on average, 47 reported damages per work day (assuming 254 work days per year). The estimated cost of these damages to underground infrastructure in Canada continues to be at least $1 billion per year.

Among all damage reports with an identified and known root cause, 22 per cent occurred because no locate request was made to a One Call Centre and 38 per cent were the result of insufficient excavation practices.

While reporting damages in DIRT is voluntary, the data is critical for the CCGA to determine root causes and develop mitigating measures to reduce and eliminate them.

The complete DIRT Report 2018 is available for download at canadiancga.com. Stakeholders interested in submitting data to the 2019 report, or establishing a Virtual Private Dirt account, should visit the DIRT website at cga-dirt.com.



2018 DIRT Report