Utility Damage Prevention: What Actually Works

A backhoe clips a fiber line, and a neighborhood loses internet for a day. A crew strikes a gas service, and a city block is evacuated while the line is shut in. The repair crew is usually done within hours. The cost keeps running long after: emergency response, closed businesses, lost service, and a project schedule that now has a gap in it. Utility damage prevention exists to keep those days from happening.

This guide covers what it is, what the latest data says about why damages happen, and what utility owners, engineers, and contractors can each do about it.

What is utility damage prevention?

Utility damage prevention is the set of laws, practices, and data that keep buried facilities from being hit during excavation. It covers everything from the 811 notification system and state one-call laws to how locators mark lines, how excavators dig near those marks, and how utilities keep their records.

The goal is simple: no one digs into a gas main, power cable, water line, or fiber bundle, or if they need to, they do so having planned for it. The hard part is that responsibility is spread across utility owners, locators, designers, excavators, and regulators. A damage prevention program only works when each of them does their part.

How big is the utility damage problem?

The problem is much bigger than the many people in the industry assumed. In August 2026, the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) released Between the Lines, a report estimating that damages to buried utilities cost the U.S. $83.2 billion a year. That's more than $227 million a day, and over double the $30 billion benchmark CGA set in 2019.

A few numbers from CGA's latest data stand out:

• 668,999 modeled damage incidents in 2025
• Direct repair is only 5.9% of the total cost. Community, environmental, and business impacts make up most of the rest, so nearly $16 is lost to other consequences for every dollar spent on repairs.
• The CGA Index reached a record 102 in the 2025 DIRT data summary, based on 221,717 damage reports.
• Telecom and gas make up 87% of reported damages: telecom and cable at 51%, gas at 36%.

The takeaway: a utility strike is rarely just a repair bill. It's an outage, a safety risk, and often a schedule problem for the project that caused it.

Why utility damages happen

Most utility damages trace back to a handful of causes. CGA's 2024 DIRT Report breaks down the top root causes of damages that year. Grouped by where in the process things went wrong:

Notification

• No 811 notification made: 24.54%, the single largest root cause. Without having an 811 dig ticket, utilities don't even get the chance to help excavators avoid their lines.

Locating

• Facility not marked due to locator error: 11.94%
• Facility marked inaccurately due to locator error: 8.58%
• Facility not marked due to no response from the operator or contract locator: 4.71%

Excavation practices

• Failure to maintain clearance after verifying marks: 16.07%
• Other improper excavation practices: 6.75%
• Dug before verifying marks by potholing: 4.94%
• Failure to shore the excavation or support facilities: 3.27%

Records and marks

• Marks faded, lost, or not maintained: 2.17%
• Facility not marked due to an incorrect facility record or map: 2.16%

No single fix covers all of these. Notification failures need outreach and enforcement. Locating and excavation failures need training, time, and verification in the field. Records failures need better utility data. That's why effective damage prevention is built across all of these layers.

The core layers of a damage prevention program

Most damage prevention programs rest on four layers that reinforce each other.

1. 811 and notification. Excavators contact their state one-call center before digging, and member utilities are notified to mark their facilities. Some 811 centers also offer design tickets, which notify member utilities about a project while it's still being designed. Indiana 811, for example, offers them, and notes that a design ticket doesn't replace the locate request before digging. Availability and what utilities send back vary by state.
2. Accurate locating and marking. Locators mark lines on the surface with paint and flags using the APWA color code. Marks must be accurate, complete, and on time. They typically have 48 hours after receiving a request to make the marks.
3. Safe excavation. Excavators respect the tolerance zone around each mark, expose lines by hand or vacuum excavation before digging close to them, and maintain clearance throughout the work.
4. Enforcement and data. States enforce 811 and other call-before-you-dig one-call laws, and stakeholders report damages to CGA's DIRT database so the industry can see trends.

At the state level, PHMSA's damage prevention program uses nine elements of an effective program, written into federal law in 2006:

• Effective communication throughout the excavation process
• Partnership of all stakeholders
• Performance measures for locators
• Partnership in employee training
• Partnership in public education
• A dispute resolution process
• Fair and consistent enforcement of the law
• Use of technology
• Data analysis and continual improvement

Damage prevention in design: ASCE 38-22

The four layers above mostly act at or near the time of excavation. By then, the project's alignment, depth, and structure locations are already set. If a design puts a new pipe through a congested corridor, there's a much greater chance for an existing line to be hit. The field crew are the ones to take on that risk.

That's why many owners and agencies treat design as part of damage prevention too. The engineering standard for this is through Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE), as laid out in ASCE 38-22, Standard Guideline for Investigating and Documenting Existing Utilities. It describes how to investigate existing utilities during design, and how to record how reliable each piece of information is, using four quality levels:

• QL-D: information from existing records
• QL-C: surveyed surface features, such as manholes and valve boxes, tied to the records
• QL-B: buried lines detected with geophysical methods and marked on the surface
• QL-A: lines exposed with test holes and measured directly

Applied early, designing using this system helps avoid conflicts instead of discovering them in the field. The Federal Highway Administration notes that with SUE, there is "less possibility of damage to a utility," and fewer construction delays from cutting or discovering unidentified lines.

Good practice under ASCE 38-22 looks like this:

• Start records research at project kickoff, so the first plan sheets reflect what's known.
• Specify the quality level each area needs, rather than one level for the whole site.
• Reserve test holes for the spots where a conflict would be costly.
• Show the quality level of each utility segment on the drawings, so everyone downstream knows what has been verified.

For a deeper walkthrough of the process, see What Is a Utility Survey?

What utility owners can do to avoid damage to their lines

Utility owners sit at the center of every layer, as the source of records, the party responsible for marks, and the one paying for a damaged asset. Practical steps:

• Keep records current. Update maps and GIS after new installs, repairs, and abandonments. CGA lists incorrect records as a direct root cause, and accurate records also help locators get marks right.
• Respond to locate requests on time. "No response from operator or contract locator" accounted for 4.71% of damages in 2024.
• Answer records requests early and completely. When design teams ask for maps and as-builts, a fast, complete answer lets them design around your facilities instead of through them.
• Report damages to DIRT and use the data. Your own damage history shows which excavators, locators, and areas need attention.

What engineers and contractors can do to avoid damage

Designers and builders control the decisions that put a crew next to a buried line. A few habits make a measurable difference:

• Start utility research at kickoff, not after design is underway.
• Use your state's design ticket process where it's available, and contact owners who aren't 811 members.
• Specify quality levels for each part of the site, following ASCE 38-22.
• Call 811 before every excavation, even when the design work was thorough. Records research doesn't replace a locate request. You always need to CALL BEFORE YOU DIG.
• Dig test holes before working close to marks, and keep clearance throughout the work.
• Verify and document what you find, so the next project starts from better information.

If you're also commissioning a land title survey, note that its utility information has limits. Our ALTA survey guide explains what Table A Item 11 does and doesn't show.

How CivilGrid fits

Every layer of damage prevention depends on knowing what's in the ground. CivilGrid helps teams start with that knowledge before design. CivilGrid sources utility maps and as-builts directly from the utilities, municipalities, and agencies that own them. Every record comes with chain of custody documentation and a log of every agency contacted. The result is a QL-D base map, aligned with ASCE QL-D guidelines, that shows where utilities are dense before a crew mobilizes, so survey and SUE teams can target test holes where they matter.

CivilGrid cuts research time, reduces rework and dig-ins, and helps teams scope accurately before committing work. It works alongside 811, field locating, and SUE. It doesn't replace any of them.

Utility damage prevention FAQ

What is the #1 cause of utility damage?

In CGA's 2024 DIRT Report, the single largest root cause was failing to notify 811 before digging, at 24.54% of damages. Locator errors and excavation practices, such as failing to maintain clearance, also make up large shares.

Is calling 811 enough to prevent utility damage?

No. Calling 811 is required and essential, but it's one layer. Damages also come from locating errors, poor excavation practices, and inaccurate records. 811 marks also don't cover facilities owned by non-members, such as many private lines.

How much does a utility strike cost?

It varies widely by utility and location. Across the U.S., CGA estimates damages cost $83.2 billion a year, and direct repair is only 5.9% of that. Most of the cost comes from service outages, business disruption, emergency response, and community impacts.

Start your next project with better utility data

Damage prevention works best when it starts early. See how CivilGrid works, or read What Is a Utility Survey? and browse our preconstruction glossary for the terms that come next.

The short version

• Utility damage prevention is the set of laws, practices, and data that keep buried facilities from being hit during excavation.
• CGA's 2026 report puts the cost of damages at $83.2 billion a year, and direct repair is only 5.9% of that.
• 811, locating, and careful digging are essential, but the strongest programs also apply ASCE 38-22 utility investigation during design, so conflicts get resolved on paper first.