DIRT TOOL FAQs

Any CGA stakeholder that has data pertaining to a damage or near miss incidents can register to submit to DIRT. This includes facility operators, excavators, locators, as well as one-call centers and regulatory agencies that collect data from stakeholders in their region.

There are many good reasons to submit data, but for many stakeholders the primary motivation is helping to identify trends that can improve damage prevention through potential new Best Practices and educational programs. Other reasons to submit include being able to compare your organization to national, state and/or industry data. In addition, some states mandate reporting to DIRT. CGA itself does not enforce these regulations, but CGA support staff can assist you in achieving compliance.

All data collected by CGA is anonymous and confidential and is used to produce the annual DIRT Analysis and Recommendations Report and the DIRT Dashboard on the CGA website. This report gathers and analyzes data relating to damage and near miss events, such as the date and location, type of excavation equipment and work performed, affected facilities, service interruptions, excavator downtime and the root cause. This information can then be used to reduce damages by targeting marketing, education, and Best Practices where they can have the greatest impact.

The data is not used for enforcement or liability purposes. CGA does not publish the names of companies that submit data. It does not determine fault for individual damages. CGA’s purpose is to look at the “big picture.”

DIRT has several features that enable stakeholders to use their own data at the local level to make damage prevention improvements:

• Data Grants allow users to voluntarily share their data with other organizations. For example, facility operators and excavators can share their data with their one-call center or industry association.
• Query Wizard allows users to sort data and generate graphs, tables, and customized reports. When coupled with Data Grants, this becomes a powerful tool that enables data to be pooled and analyzed at a local level, for example by a one-call center.
• Virtual Private DIRT (VPD) allows the addition of “Flex Fields,” beyond the standard DIRT fields, that are important or useful to the user. See more on VPD’s below.
   

No. CGA support staff screens new incoming DIRT registrations to verify they actually intend to enter reports or have a legitimate reason to register in DIRT. Occasionally someone like a research organization, college student, insurance company, equipment manufacturer, service vendor, etc. attempts to register hoping for access to the raw data of other companies. In such cases we point them to the annual DIRT reports and on-line dashboards but reject their DIRT registrations.

VPD’s are instances where an organization sets up (for a fee) and “hosts” the VPD. DIRT users then register (at no cost) within the VPD, and any data they enter is automatically shared with the host organization. VPD hosts can also add additional “flex-fields,” beyond those collected by DIRT. These flex fields can be used by the host organization for local analysis, but they are NOT used in annual CGA DIRT reports.

Most VPD’s are hosted by one-call centers. A few are hosted by state regulatory commissions. There are also a few industry associations and individual facility operator companies. Some states have regulations requiring registration and data entry via a VPD hosted by a one call center or regulatory agency. Not all states have VPD’s, in which case “DIRT North America” is where you would register.

More information and online registration are available at www.cga-dirt.com. If you have questions, a member of the CGA team is available to assist at [email protected].

There are several methods by which data can be entered. Link to DIRT Data Entry Methods document.

No, we have sample files available for download that are already set up and formatted for you. DIRT only accepts files that conform to the File Upload Specification.

In order to create the DIRT annual reports and Dashboard, the data from the hundreds of companies extracted and merged. Therefore, there needs to be consistency in how the data is entered in order for this to work. If everyone were allowed to do their own thing there would be chaos. In setting up the questions and answers in DIRT, the Data Committee attempts to achieve a balance between usefulness of the data and effort required to collect and report it, which sometimes requires compromises.

Yes, but it can only be done through the on-line, single-report-entry process. This feature is intended for those using DIRT as their internal record keeping system. Attachments will not be used for DIRT reports.

The Data Committee has considered this possibility and has a process to account for it, as described in this report.

The short answer is no one should hesitate to report to DIRT because they think another party may also be reporting. In fact, we welcome reports from multiple parties as it can provide valuable insights on the views of different stakeholders.

Yes, but only by somebody with Company Administrator privileges.

All DIRT reports are linked to the email address of the person that entered it. A person can be completely removed if they have never entered a report. If they have entered reports, they can be made INACTIVE, in which case their email address can no longer be used to login, but their name will still appear in the User Admin feature (available only to Company Administrators).

DIRT has a feature called “Submission Status” where a box can be checked indicting nothing to report. Only Company Administrators have access to this feature.

The original intent was so Data Committee leaders and CGA support staff could know whether to expect more reports as the annual deadline approached, especially from large-volume submitters. However, we find that many low-volume submitters wonder what to do if they have nothing to report, so we would have needed to create “Submission Status” regardless.

If you missed performing this step in years past there is no need to go back and do it.

If you did check nothing to report for a given year, and then realize you do have data to enter, you can still enter the report(s). You do not need to uncheck your submission status.

You can submit reports at any time, but data from the preceding year must be submitted by March 31 to be included in the annual report.

CGA is funded by more than 70 top tier members, nearly 250 corporate members and more than 1,800 individual participants. For a full list of top tier members, please click here.

Yes, CGA support staff can assist if you submit a Feedback/Support Request.

Yes. This often comes into play for multi-state companies that may operate in a mix of states with and without VPD’s. CGA support staff can assist with creating multiple registrations or moving people from DIRT North America to VPD’s and vice-versa.

See the DIRT Users Guide for exact definitions, but in short a “damage” is any contact or exposure that results in a need for repair. There does not need to be a complete severing or loss of product.

A “near-miss” is an event where an excavation-related damage did not occur, but a clear potential for damage was evident, such as an excavator digging without prior 811 notification, or a mismarked or unmarked facility.

Not really. Because DIRT collects data for all types of buried facilities, from large-diameter high-pressure liquid petroleum pipelines to cable TV services into homes, it would be difficult to come up with a one-size-fits-all number. The focus should be on the behavior involved, i.e.: If this excavator keeps digging without marks, or this facility operator keeps mismarking its facilities, eventually real damages are going to occur.

Yes, DIRT has a USER’S GUIDE which is intended to assist users of the DIRT in selecting the proper entries. This will help ensure that individuals submitting reports have a common understanding of the data fields, which in turn will make analysis of the data more useful and meaningful.

DQI stands for Data Quality Index. It is a measure of the ‘completeness’ and/or ‘quality’ of the data. Starting from a score of 100, points are deducted for non-mandatory questions that are left blank (if allowed) or answered with UNKNOWN. The number of points deducted is based on the value of the data to damage prevention analysis. For example, root cause is worth 30 points; type of excavator, equipment and work performed are worth 12 points each; depth is worth 2 points.

The intent is that DIRT Users be incentivized to improve their score by looking at what data points they are and are not collecting and look for opportunities to improve. Even if it is too late to improve on a report you are currently entering, maybe you could start collecting the necessary data for future reports.

The DIRT system will return an error message for required questions that are not answered properly. The idea is to encourage collection and entry of optional data.

A score of 85 or above should be considered good. Users should not fixate on achieving a score of 100, as different questions are geared toward different types of users. For example, excavator downtime (hours and cost) is geared towards excavators, and facility operators may not be able to collect this data even if they wanted to. However, if your score is in the 60’s or below we encourage you to look for ways to raise it.

Some events occur in remote locations that are not in an incorporated city, town, or village, or at a site not near a building or lot with an address. In such cases you can put in a description of the location, and latitude-longitude coordinates are also an option. However, City and Address are important to identifying multiple reports of the same event. Comparing blank-against-blank records can lead to false positive matches, while comparing blank-against-filled filled can lead to potential matches being missed. DIRT users are encouraged to enter City and Address whenever possible, and not leave them blank just because it is allowed. NOTE: they are each worth 4 DQI points.