Reducing Damage to Underground Utilities: Lessons Learned from Damage Data and Excavators in North Carolina
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 145, Issue 12
Abstract
Damages to underground utilities are unfortunately a common occurrence on many construction projects. Damaging an underground utility during construction often leads to work delay, road closures, social costs, and safety accidents. Through a combination of damage data analysis and a construction practitioner survey, this paper examined the current deficiencies in damage prevention efforts as well as the possible root causes. Understanding the current root causes that contribute the most to underground utility damages presents opportunities to reduce future damages. The analyses presented in this paper are the result of a survey completed by 477 excavators who experienced the current damage prevention efforts. Data on 11,160 damages in the state of North Carolina were collected and analyzed. The key contributions of the study include, among others, recommendations to improve education material, tailoring construction firms’ plans to address locating delay and inaccuracy, and improving utility owners’ locating efforts. Accordingly, the findings can help the industry improve its efforts to reduce the damages to underground utilities and enhance the performance of construction projects.
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Data Availability Statement
Data generated or analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author by request.
Acknowledgments
Funding to undertake this study was provided by the NC 811.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 145 • Issue 12 • December 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 16, 2018
Accepted: Apr 24, 2019
Published online: Sep 28, 2019
Published in print: Dec 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Feb 28, 2020
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