California underground safety board workshop focuses on outreach to reduce failures to notify 811 before digging

SACRAMENTO — Industry stakeholders meeting in person and online at a statewide workshop convened by the California Underground Safety Board and the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety spent the day outlining outreach messages and channels to reduce damages caused by failing to notify 811 before excavation.

The workshop framed the problem with data from the Common Ground Alliance Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) and industry reports, noting that “no locate request” — damages caused by a failure to notify 811 — remains a key root cause. Workshop presenters said calendar trends in 2023 showed the highest number of reported damages in August and the most damages by day of week on Tuesdays; contractor excavators accounted for about 51% of reported damages and the largest work-type category labeled “unknown.” The most frequently named facilities hit included fencing, sewer, landscaping, electric and building construction; organizers also noted increases over a three‑year span in electric and cable-TV damages.

Why it matters: Hitting buried utilities can cause service outages, expensive repairs and safety risks to workers and the public. The board and participating utilities described the workshop as part of a statewide, multi‑year effort to improve education and outreach and to encourage safe excavation practice through clearer, more targeted messaging.

Jessica Reza, chief of education and outreach for the board, summarized the DIRT filters used in the presentation and the definitions organizers used for the workshop. “No locate request represents damages caused by a failure to notify the 811 center,” Reza said, and she asked attendees to keep those definitions in mind as…