Alongside spring and rejuvenation, the month of April also marks the U.S National Safe Digging Month (NSDM) celebrated by the damage prevention industry. Led by the Common Grounds Alliance (CGA) association the Safety Month is all about promoting safe digging practices to the general public, as well as industry professionals, through media and advocacy campaigns, educational activities all over the country.
For both the private homeowner and the industry leader the danger of digging without knowing the location of underground utilities can result in serious injuries, service disruptions and costly repairs if they happen to strike or damage any gas, electric, communications, water or sewer lines.
The risk of accidental strikes has greatly increased during the last year because of the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic. According to a survey conducted in February this year by CGA 56% of respondents who plan to plant a tree or garden this year said they are more likely to complete a digging project during the pandemic.
The survey shows that utility interruptions are a fairly common occurrence for Americans during the pandemic as one in every three (33%) surveyed U.S. homeowners reported experiencing a utility service interruption during the pandemic. Sadly, the survey also shows that of the 19.5 million U.S.homeowners who plan to dig this year for projects like gardening, building a fence or deck and more, nearly two in five (37%) will put themselves and their communities at risk due to unsafe digging or excavations.
Across the industry, stakeholders are looking to make damage prevention more effective and efficient in order to minimize the occurrence of excavation accidents and utility strikes, as well as service providers aiming to better their management of existing ticket or service call volume. Breaking Dawn damage prevention puts Utility Locating at the very core of the process and with it the task of acquiring data of subsurface infrastructure and existing utilities. As the industry is constantly searching for better ways to gather or produce such information it is clear the existing methodologies and data gathering techniques are just not sufficient any more.
Our response to this industry pain points is the 4Map platform developed by 4M Analytics offering diverse solutions to challenges in subsurface mapping and damage prevention. By bringing together cutting-edge AI and satellite imaging this breakthrough system uses sophisticated algorithms applied to satellite data to produce computer-generated mapping of existing subsurface structures and utilities. Targeting damage prevention and work safety 4M Analytics has developed 4Dig: a mobile app integrating live GPS data with the 4M utility map platform, offering a safer combination of accurate mapping and constant monitoring of the real-time location of any excavation crew.
With a mission to grant humanity unprecedented access to the space underground and with a goal to eliminate excavation accidents and utility strikes, 4M Analytics is proud to be part of Safety Month and take part in this joint effort to raise awareness of excavation safety. With presentation in upcoming events and ongoing collaborations between 4M Analytics and other industry leaders it is shaping to be a promising future of less accidents, better results and improved performance in all aspects of excavation safety.
