Accreditation Criteria

We will submit all known underground facility damages to DPI DIRT (Damage Information Reporting Tool) on a monthly basis.

We will report the following information to the DPI by end of month for prior month:

• Actual work hours, per state. Hours worked should include all employee work hours (including all types of work, projects and customers) over the month per state for the entire organization. If work hours are not available for employees on salary or commission, hours worked may be estimated on the basis of scheduled hours or eight hours per workday (per OSHA’s TRIR calculation definition of work hours).

We have a whistleblower and stop-work authority for employees and have shared it with all affected workers (including all field laborers, supervisors, and other workers who work alongside until excavation is complete, but excluding administrative workers without field responsibilities, casual employee visitors, inspectors not associated with field work). As a participant in DPI, we commit that affected workers will be explicitly notified of management’s commitment to safe digging, and encouraged and empowered to stop work, without fear of retribution, when they observe a situation that is unsafe or in conflict with safe excavation policies, rules, or laws.

We have a corrective action procedure with root cause analysis when damages happen. This document details how our organization investigates the cause of an incident when excavation related damage occurs, and the subsequent measures taken to prevent it from happening again.

Training programs should be tailored to the work type, location and conditions, employee roles and responsibilities, and other factors such as risk and damage/near-miss history.   Many elements can contribute to the excavator’s overall training program, including Operator Qualification requirements for specific tasks associated with regulated gas and hazardous liquids pipelines, OSHA requirements, and state-specific requirements.  As DPI participants, organizations meet the excavator training requirements by developing training programs that align with the criteria outlined here.

Please review and concur with the following statements:

We attest that our training program includes provisions to:

• Define training requirements based on the performance needs of both the organization and the individual.
• Provide training that addresses the identified needs.
• Assess employee performance to ensure competence (through testing, observation, interviewing, etc.).
• Monitor, on an ongoing basis, excavation work, as well as work requirements (such as procedural changes or law changes), to identify potential training gaps.
• Adjust and deliver updated training at designated periodic intervals and as needed.
• Maintains all training documentation, including the assessment process.

The following core competencies are incorporated in our training program:

• The applicable state and/or province-specific excavation safety requirements (including, at a minimum, tolerance zone, allowable scope of ticket, ticket life) and potential consequences of non-compliance.
• How to read/understand an 811 ticket

• How to understand the field markings of buried facilities
• Indicators of unmarked buried facilities
• Digging safely within the tolerance zone
• Ensuring that there are visible marks throughout the life of the job
• Troubleshooting when a facility cannot be found as marked.
• Steps to take immediately when an underground facility is damaged.

In addition to these core competencies, the training program acknowledges and encourages understanding of the Common Ground Alliance Best Practices applicable to excavation, and a link to the CGA Best Practices Video is provided to support employee knowledge.

We commit to ensuring employee compliance with all federal, state/provincial, and local laws and regulations governing excavation safety.

We commit to implementing, as practical, all applicable CGA Best Practices, even if not required by law or regulation.

We commit to participating in a DPI Peer Review cylically. More information about peer reviews can be found here.

We will submit all known underground facility damages to DPI DIRT (Damage Information Reporting Tool) on a monthly basis.

We will report the following information to the DPI by end of month for prior month:

• Number of locate tickets received.
• Number of trouble locate tickets received.

*The Facility Owner/Operator Metrics Task Team is currently working on a mapping metric. Communication will be sent out as changes are approved by the DPI Program Committee. If you are interested in shaping the work of the DPI and being involved on our task teams, please reach out to dpi@commongroundalliance.com.

We have a whistleblower and stop-work authority for employees and have shared it with all affected workers (including all field laborers, supervisors, and other workers who work alongside until excavation is complete, but excluding administrative workers without field responsibilities, casual employee visitors, inspectors not associated with field work). As a participant in DPI, we commit that affected workers will be explicitly notified of management’s commitment to safe digging, and encouraged and empowered to stop work, without fear of retribution, when they observe a situation that is unsafe or in conflict with safe excavation policies, rules, or laws.

We have a corrective action procedure with root cause analysis when damages happen. This document details how our organization investigates the cause of an incident when excavation related damage occurs, and the subsequent measures taken to prevent it from happening again.

We commit to implementing, as practical, all applicable CGA Best Practices, even if not required by law or regulation.

We agree to develop, maintain, and implement written policies, procedures, or other management documents that address the following elements:

• A description of how the performance of outsourced locate-and-mark services is evaluated
• The facilitation of communication between excavators and locate-and-mark entities
• The organizations’ involvement with and use of Subsurface Utility
• Engineering (SUE) in the design phase of a project
• A policy that addresses records discrepancies that demonstrates there is a process to follow for correcting inaccurate records, and making those records available to the locate-and-mark entity based on a documented completion timeframe
• A process for tracking, receiving, updating and distributing records for new installations, replacement work, etc. that includes timelines
• Creating and making records readily available to locate-and-mark personnel using the most effective means available within the organization (facility owners are encouraged to identify and use technology to effectively deliver such records).

We will ensure that 811 center tickets are dispatched or cleared to the locate-and-mark entity within one hour of receipt from an 811 center.

We will participate in electronic positive response, if available within an operating state (or region/province).

We will submit all known underground facility damages to DPI DIRT (Damage Information Reporting Tool) on a monthly basis (contract locators may only submit data their customers allow to be submitted).

We will report the following information to the DPI by end of month for prior month:

• Total number of locate tickets marked or cleared on time, by utility type per state. For single tickets that include requirements for marking more than one underground facility, please count each facility separately.
• Total number of locate tickets received, by utility type, per state. For single tickets that include requirements for marking more than one underground facility, please count each facility separately. This figure should include all locates whether worked in the field or cleared from the office.

We have a whistleblower and stop-work authority for employees and have shared it with all affected workers (including all field laborers, supervisors, and other workers who work alongside until excavation is complete, but excluding administrative workers without field responsibilities, casual employee visitors, inspectors not associated with field work). As a participant in DPI, we commit that affected workers will be explicitly notified of management’s commitment to safe digging, and encouraged and empowered to stop work, without fear of retribution, when they observe a situation that is unsafe or in conflict with safe excavation policies, rules, or laws.

We have a corrective action procedure with root cause analysis when damages happen. This document details how our organization investigates the cause of an incident when excavation related damage occurs, and the subsequent measures taken to prevent it from happening again.

We commit to training all workers performing locates upon hiring and annually thereafter, maintaining all training documentation. Training is consistent with the most current CGA Best Practices 4.05 and/or Nulca Competency Standards for Locating Technicians.

We commit to ensuring employee compliance with all federal, state/provincial, and local laws and regulations governing excavation safety.

We commit to implementing, as practical, all applicable CGA Best Practices, even if not required by law or regulation.

We agree to develop, maintain, and implement written policies, procedures, or other management documents that address the following elements:

• Accessible records for field workers
• Conveying records discrepancies in a timely matter
• Resolving issues regarding problem locates

Not applicable. In the accreditation process you can request access to DPI DIRT (Damage Information Reporting Tool) account so that you can view data of organizations that you have a business relationship. Please note that organizations control who has access to their organization level DPI DIRT data. Unless it is contractually required, they do not have to share the data with you.

We commit to understand and endorse the DPI accreditation requirements for excavators, locators, and facility owners (see DPI website).

We commit to ensuring employee compliance with all federal, state/provincial, and locate laws and regulations governing excavation safety.

We commit to implementing as practical, all applicable CGA Best Practices, even if not required by law or regulation.

We commit to ensuring employee compliance with all federal, state/provincial, and locate laws and regulations governing excavation safety.