The amount of utility installation and improvement set to occur across the U.S. over the next several years will result in an enormous increase in excavation activity. That means a boom for local economies – and a boom in the number of excavation damages, according to the latest Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT Report) from the Common Ground Alliance (CGA).

811 Day was created to bring attention to a significant but unfamiliar issue – the high cost and safety impacts of underground utility strikes.

Quantifying the cost and safety impacts of utility strikes is difficult. A compilation of various studies estimates that the direct cost of each strike is $4,000 -- but that doesn’t take into consideration the cost to repair and restore the damage. Taken together, the cost of the strike plus the cost of restoration, the total is 29 times the cost of the direct damage itself.

As surveyors intimately understand, it’s very important to know what’s below. Your life could depend on it. National Safe Digging Month was created in 2008 by the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) to bring visibility to protecting workers, utilities and the public by working to prevent utility strikes during excavation. This group is comprised of companies and individuals in every facet of the underground utility industry, including Berntsen.