The Alabama Underground Damage Prevention Authority (ALUDPA) began hearing violation complaints in 2021. This past year was four years of the new enforcement process in Alabama to help ensure compliance with the Underground Damage Prevention law and hopefully reduce the potential for damage to underground facilities. There have been some outlying factors that impact the review of the data but there are some trends beginning to develop.
Over the last four years there have been almost 1,370 violation complaints submitted. In 2024, there were 481. In the first year, 53% of complaints received listed “no locate request” as the root cause compared to 32% in 2024. In turn, more complaints are noting “use of mechanized equipment” or “failure to use reasonable care in the tolerance zone” as the root cause. Alabama 811 continues to educate on the need to contact 811 prior to any excavation project but is beginning to focus more on educational programs regarding safe digging practices or other aspects of the law.
Complaints noting that a damage occurred due to the alleged violation are around 70% of those reported. This continues to be an area of concern as damages to underground facilities is still occurring at such a high rate. As we focus on this data, Alabama 811 is looking at trends to determine what other factors could be relative to these damages. National data has shown that if a locate request is placed prior to excavation, the chance of damaging a facility is less than 1%. So why are we still seeing a trend of damages if the “no notice” cause is diminishing? No locates root cause reported for 2021 as compared to 2024 has declined around 21% with damages only reducing around 6%.
The root cause of facilities not being marked in a timely manner does not remain consistent year after year. A lot of this is dependent on the reporting party. As expected, more complaints are filed by underground facility owners than excavators. Most that are reported by the excavating community tend to come in waves from a single excavator related to a particular job site where problems in the field may be an issue. This criteria is a little harder to analyze from the complaint filed data. Alabama 811 is utilizing other internal data to attempt to arrive at a better number regarding late locate markings.
To be able to gauge trends in the field and look for areas to affect change, one must have data. The enforcement process is helping to bring some of these areas of concern to light. By being able to isolate needed areas of improvement, education programs, legislative changes, and other initiatives can be developed to help make Alabama a safer place to live and work.