Letter from the Chair

On behalf of the CCGA Board of Directors, I am proud to deliver the CCGA's first coast-to-coast DIRT report. Prior to 2017, the CCGA released a two-page compendium of DIRT data at the annual damage prevention symposium derived from reporting provinces. With our sixth Symposium, the Board committed to move forward with a more robust report.

Reading through the 2017 DIRT Report, a few points come to mind – namely how vast our country is – but mostly how far we have come in such a short amount of time. It wasn't long ago only Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia were reporting damages. With quiet perseverance, all regions are now reporting into DIRT and the results will only improve. I'm also impressed at the percentage of locate requests originating on the web. Canada has clearly adopted the Click Before You Dig call-to-action, but more importantly, there is a lower risk of damage when a locate request is placed over the web so I'm very pleased to see this metric.

While we can bask in the glory of this Canada-wide report, some of the data is troubling. For instance, despite the decades-long efforts and expansive financial resources of Canada's One Call Centres, their members, their members' associations, the digging community – and all damage prevention stakeholders across Canada — 51% of damages are a direct result of no locate request being made to the One Call Centre. It is a fact that is difficult to fathom but it is also a stark reminder that comprehensive damage prevention/One Call legislation is absolutely and unequivocally necessary

Yours truly,

Todd Scott
Chair, CCGA