World Fence News

WORLD FENCE NEWS • JUNE 2017 • 37 facilities in North America through shared responsibility among all stake- holders. Further, on their web site they in- dicate that in the spirit of promoting shared responsibility, CGA welcomes all stakeholders who would like to be a part of the identification and promo- tion of best practices that lead to a re- duction in damage. Any best practice or program that CGA endorses comes with a consen- sus support from experts represent- ing the following stakeholder groups: Excavators, locators, road builders, electric utilities, telecommunications, oil, gas distribution, gas transmis- sion, railroad, one-call, public works, equipment manufacturing, state regu- lators, insurance, emergency services, and engineering/design. As one can see, this involves and entails an awful lot of groups focused on the same concerns as we listed above. Continuing a little further, their web site indicates that they officially formed in 2000 and represent a con- tinuation of damage prevention efforts embodied by the common ground study which was sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation and com- pleted in 1999. This study represents the collaborative work of some 160 industry professionals who identify best practices relating to damage pre- vention. The important thing to recog- nize here is that this organization has worked very hard to assist all of us in working safely and with purpose. They provide clear and tangi- ble value to their stakeholders by helping to reduce damages to North America's underground infrastruc- ture. Further, they indicate a direction and structure for enhancing safety and protecting underground facilities by: 1 – Identifying and disseminating stakeholders' best practices; 2 – Developing and conducting public awareness and education pro- grams. (While I sadly missed it due to personal reasons, CGA had an ex- hibit booth at the most recent FENCE- TECH show, and I hope many of you dropped by); 3 – Sharing and disseminating damage prevention tools and technol- ogy; and 4 – Serving as the premier re- source for damage and one call center damage collection, analysis, and dis- semination. While we have discussed some of the origins and talked about what CGA is and how it got started, as well as who they represent, we should now turn our attention briefly to what some of the CGA's key programs are. With that said, the following is a list of areas that they get involved in via each stakehold- er group within the CGA is represented by a director of the CGA board. As I understand it, there are cur- rently 16 board members. In addition to the board of directors, the CGA is comprised of seven working commit- tees, and therein lies the key program- ming which is as follows: 1 – A working committee for best practices. 2 – A committee for technology. 3 – A committee for data report- ing and evaluation. 4 – (Call 811) – Educational pro- grams and marketing. (This is the work that we are most familiar with in the industry.) 5 – One-Call Systems Interna- Call before you dig! continued from page 34 tional. 6 – A committee to work with re- gional partners. 7 – A committee to work with stakeholder advocacy. Something else that might be well worth mentioning here is whether or not CGA publishes studies or papers regarding utility damage and safety. The answer is yes, it does. CGA publishes two key pieces ev- ery year – The Best Practices Guide in the spring, and Damage Informa- tion Reporting Tool (DIRT) report in the fall. I would strongly suggest that you get copies of these reports along with a fact sheet about one of CGA's pro- grams, called "Call 811 BEFORE you DIG!" campaign. Now we approach the subject of 811 itself. 811 is the phone number you call, or in some states contact online, before digging to have undergound utilities marked and to help protect yourselves and others from uninten- tionally hitting these lines. I know to most of us this is "an amazing grasp of the obvious" but for our newest contractors this should serve as a necessary introduction for you to get up to speed. There are millions of miles of MicroShades Color Infused Pressure Treated Fencing The rich look of cedar backed by a 2-Year Color Warranty • The best alternative to cedar when price & availability are a concern • Complete series available including pickets, posts & rails • Proven workability of Select Cut ® Red Pine 811 is the phone number you call, or in some states contact online, before digging to have undergound utilities marked and to help protect yourselves and others from unintentionally hitting these lines. continued on page 84

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