Case Study: Igel Increases Efficiency and Minimizes Risk with New Excavator Focused Technology

April Mitchell - CMO, Marketing & Customer Experience, Norfield
Mary Logan - Vice President - Safety & Employee Development, George J. Igel & CO., Inc.

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From Crisis to Culture Shift: What America Burning Teaches about Damage Prevention

Nick Bonstell - CEO, MISS DIG 811

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Utility Locating & Mapping Technologies: EM, GPR, Acoustic, SPAR and RTK

Adam Zeciri - Founder, Locating Dynamics

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PHMSA Strategies to Ensure Compliance

David Appelbaum, Senior Transportation Specialist, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)

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As original One Call centers and the industry as a whole turned 50 years old, an emerging need for the next generation of Executive Directors and Chief Executive Officers was identified. As long-time and current leaders retire or move on, the opportunity to develop and prepare emerging leaders became evident. This session will cover the curriculum that was designed to create prepared professionals to fulfill succession plans and carry forward the mission of damage prevention, public safety, and industry collaboration that is critical to the success of all One Call centers.

Learn about the Alternate Locate Provider (ALP) Program, a new option for how locates can be delivered in Alberta, Canada. The ALP Program allows Locate Service Providers (LSPs) to register their services with Utility Safety Partners (USP) following a comprehensive training and audit process; and, provides excavators with the option to hire a registered locator to complete locates on behalf of participating USP members. The ALP Program allows project owners to work directly with LSPs, improving communication and providing greater certainty around project timing, costs, and most importantly, reducing damages.

At the core of damage prevention is recognizing risks related to the excavation process. Stakeholders achieve this in a number of ways, however, the use of technology at the beginning of the process is key to reducing damages. This session will dive into how George J Igel & Co is using new technology to streamline the management of 811 tickets. This session will illuminate the critical importance of the voice of the excavator in understanding how to combine both technological innovations and established practices and procedures. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear directly from one of the largest excavators in Ohio as to how new technology is helping them achieve operational excellence and risk mitigation.

The American Petroleum Institute (API)'s new API Pipeline Safety Management System (SMS) Contractor Safety Assessment Program, building on the success of its established Pipeline SMS: A Contractor’s Guide, and its associated implementation tools, is the culmination of API’s work with the Distribution Contractors Association to help meet both contractor needs and operator’s priorities for pipeline SMS implementation. The program provides pipeline contractors with access to experienced safety professionals who offer feedback on safety management systems, promoting greater alignment with pipeline operators and improving safety across the industry. API worked with the Distribution Contractors Association to produce the Pipeline SMS Contractor Assessment Program, a three-tiered structured offering to help contractors implement programs that support pipeline safety.

Every board wants to be a catalyst for organizational success, but most boards struggle to foster a high-performance culture that engages members and drives effective governance. This interactive session explores the essential elements of high-performance board culture explicitly tailored for the 811 Notification Center's board of directors and executive leadership. Attendees will gain insights into fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and strategic alignment that enhances board effectiveness and drives organizational success. This session will empower leaders to embrace best practices and innovative approaches that elevate board performance, support their mission, and will be tooled with tactical actions they can take back and apply at their board meetings.

In an era where precision and efficiency are paramount, the transition from traditional underground utility marking methods to Digital Locate™ solutions represents a significant leap forward for the Damage Prevention industry. Drawing from real-world applications and case studies, the session will demonstrate how Digital Locating™ enhances accuracy, reduces field time, and improves communication among stakeholders. Attendees will gain insights into the integration of advanced geospatial data, AI-driven analysis, and mobile-friendly platforms, which together deliver instantaneous and reliable underground line information directly to field personnel. The presentation will also cover the challenges and opportunities associated with adopting Digital Locate™ systems, including regulatory considerations, data security, and the pathway to industry-wide adoption.

The Eyes Wide Open (EWO) presentation is about how to get people who are new to your organization set up for success. Remember your first day of anything and the stress associated with it? Be it the first day at a new school, your first few months at a new job, or taking on a new project or challenge. The first few months of anything new can be very stressful. Add on top of that critical incident stress, cultural assimilation factors and new interpersonal dynamics, what tools did you gain in those first few months of learning and training to set you up for success?

EWO discusses the aspects on how to set up your learning programs to allow for maximum retention of information in the most efficient time period. Teaching and training philosophies are shared to provide the participants with the right tools for the creation of an effective instructional program.

This presentation provides an overview of the PHMSA’s Damage Prevention Program. The program is designed to prevent excavation-related pipeline incidents, which remain one of the leading causes of pipeline failures, especially in populated areas. The session will explore regulatory requirement, which mandate effective damage prevention practices, as well as public awareness obligations. Emphasis will be placed on PHMSA’s enforcement priorities, including how operators integrate data from patrols, incident reports, and one-call systems to reduce third-party damage. Attendees will gain insights into best practices, compliance expectations, and PHMSA’s strategies for reducing excavation-related risks to people, property, and the environment. Beyond operator compliance, PHMSA actively collaborates with state regulators, one-call centers, utility locators, contractors, and marine construction entities to strengthen excavation safety. Special attention will be given to PHMSA’s outreach and educational initiatives aimed at preventing damage from dredging and other underwater activities near submerged pipelines.

This presentation will explore how geofencing technology, a tool used by billion-dollar brands like Uber, Amazon, and Starbucks to target key audiences with precision, can be employed by pipelines and other utilities to save lives and protect critical infrastructure. By utilizing geofencing, companies can target safety information to affected public, excavators, and emergency responders within specific geographical zones. We’ll highlight how the Pipeline Association for Public Awareness (PAPA) has successfully implemented this cutting-edge technology, driving effective communication and enhanced safety practices, ensuring that vital information reaches the right people at the right time. Learn how geofencing can be a game changer for utility safety, creating a proactive approach to preventing accidents, and safeguarding communities and infrastructures alike.

Due to aging infrastructure and lack of accurate utility location information, there is significant underground congestion and conflicts, resulting in increased operational risk, especially at waterways and utility crossings. The ability to mitigate these risks by providing accurate digital as-built positional data at trenchless crossings, constructed via HDD methods can be done with in-line Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) Mapping tools that are autonomous and provide highly accurate XYZ GPS location information. The result is a digital geolocated 3D map of buried assets that can be integrated into any existing software.

The future of utility location is evolving quickly and with Artificial Intelligence (AI) deployed alongside traditional Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) and One Call locating processes. It is changing the landscape of early risk mitigation and the asset management lifecycle. This session is an exploration of how the emergence of AI to collect, interpret, and synthesize the vast amount of siloed utility data available in the public and private domain is enhancing traditional efforts and transforming the Utility Asset Management Lifecycle and Utility Management markets.

Positive response codes were designed to play a crucial role in clear and specific communication between excavators and utility locators. Both have expressed displeasure with the codes not being specific enough. Is it time to revisit the issue? Have current positive response codes contributed to a lack of clarity in the excavator process? Should there be universal codes that cross state lines to provide greater clarity and confidence in the system? Should the process begin with asking excavators and locators to sit down with Notification Centers to identify their specific concerns?

How to increase your leadership and emotional intelligence by focusing on how the human mind is divided into two basic aspects: the conscious and subconscious mind. “Power of Don’t” will give participants a new understanding on how these two aspects of the human psyche work with each other and how to ensure teaching, training, and mentorship programs are structured in such a way as to facilitate long-term memory recall. With the tools presented, the participants will gain the ability to relay information more effectively, manage time more efficiently, and increase the long term retention and successful performance of the intended learner. The participants will be able to improve their message delivery, enable themselves and other learners to retain critical knowledge, and allow them to take these same tools back to help others achieve similar success.

Trenchless technologies (moles, plows, horizontal directional drilling, etc.) have been utilized since the 1970s to bore natural gas lines in the United States. On the surface, natural gas line boring seems non-invasive. However, in reality, boring equipment is manufactured to penetrate almost anything in its path. Unfortunately, sanitary sewer mains, sanitary sewer service laterals and storm drain lines are often in the path of the bore. A cross bore is defined as an intersection of an existing underground utility or underground structure by a second utility resulting in direct contact between the transactions of the utilities that compromises the integrity of either utility or underground structure.

When cross bores exist in a sanitary sewer or storm drain system, it presents a tremendously hazardous situation. This session will discuss the hazards associated with cross bores and explore the technologies available for locating cross bores.

Working underground is extremely hazardous. Rules for such work are in place, and protective systems exist that should keep workers safe. So why are 30-45 people dying every year in trenches and excavation? It could be that many people think they know the rules but really don’t. It has also been found that many people have been taught the wrong thing. Or they modify systems without proper approval from a registered professional engineer. This session will clarify misinterpretations, inaccuracies and false knowledge surrounding trench safety.

As the industry strives to achieve their "50 in 5" goals, it is becoming increasingly difficult to reduce damages with a limited number of resources. Large broadband and infrastructure projects fueled by federal investments have increased the likelihood of damaged facilities across the industry. A Risk-Based approach allows companies to better allocate their resources on the 811 tickets that are the most likely to result in damage, helping to take the necessary steps to mitigate the damage risks.

On August 11, 2025, “811 Day,” Virginia 811 published a white paper examining excavation readiness in Virginia juxtaposed with national conclusions that the Common Ground Alliance had previously published related to this important topic, suggesting excavation readiness nationwide is a “coin toss.” The analysis suggests this roughly 50% average rate of excavation readiness nationwide is not evident in Virginia, bringing to question national trends. Ultimately, the white paper is as much about data integrity and how our industry should examine and approach data; it is as much about exploring data’s relationship with truth as it is about excavation readiness. This presentation will briefly examine two historical events, the 1849 and 1854 cholera epidemics in London (tied to potable water, delivered via underground piping), to explore the inspiration behind the white paper. The use of data during these epidemics is a strong reminder that data is subject to interpretation and is not necessarily tied to truth – it is a tool that can be leveraged to move us closer to truth, but only if data is questioned in a healthy manner and a manner that is driven by questions – and continued dialectic (Platonic, not Hegelian). Healthy skepticism is the strongest tool we in damage prevention have, and this presentation will focus on how we as an industry can embrace healthy skepticism to drive damage prevention along a line of continuous improvement. Participants will review how Virginia 811 approached excavation readiness through the lens of healthy skepticism, leading to the development of its excavation readiness model.

As we protect underground utilities, we ultimately protect that which is invisible to us. Only trained eyes can begin to recognize the presence of utilities, and only with the aid of maps and locate equipment can a stronger awareness of the presence of underground utilities be achieved.

As the 19th century polymath Sir John Lubbock notes in his 1894 work The Use of Life, “As we increase the range of what we see, we increase the range of what we can imagine.” Damage prevention and underground utilities require we increase the range of what we see - and only then can we extend the range we can imagine and drive damages down. Emerging technology in the form of extended reality (XR), including augmented reality (AR), can help us achieve this goal!

Partnering with MISS DIG 811 and Texas811, Virginia 811 designed and developed a unique and innovative mobile application to engage audiences and support public awareness efforts. This mobile application, Underline Quest, is a gamified use of XR. Users are able to investigate, through AR, a damaged utility line, from figuring out which specific utility line is damaged (gas, electric, telecom, water, sewer), to “repairing” the damaged line, to determining the root cause of the damage. The entire AR simulation is accessible through mobile phones, both Android and Apple, and is free. The application has three levels of difficulty, allowing all audiences, from elementary age children to adults, to find the gaming experience relevant and enjoyable.

The application was launched in January 2026, and this session will allow participants to learn more about the creation of this application, the use of XR and gamification in damage prevention efforts, its launch, and early data gathered related to its use and effectiveness at raising awareness of underground utilities.

The participant will:

Gain a stronger understanding as to how emerging technologies related to Extended Reality can be leveraged to enhance public awareness and damage prevention.
Increase understanding of benefits of gamification in relation to education about underground utilities and damage prevention.
Examine and critique data related to the first few months of the launch of the new AR mobile application Underline Quest to understand potential impact XR technology can have on damage prevention and public awareness.

The Company proposes a strategic shift to fully insource locating services across all territories, replacing external contractors with in-house teams. This initiative is driven by compelling data showing that internal locators deliver significantly lower damage rates—up to 10 times better in some cases—while offering superior accuracy, faster response times, and stronger alignment with The Company’s operational standards.

Key components of the proposal include:

Hiring additional Service Operators to centralize ticket screening, reduce field distractions, and improve safety and efficiency.
Expanding the in-house fiber optic locating team by 11 positions to meet rising 811 ticket volumes, reduce costly telecom damages, and enhance GIS mapping accuracy.
Reducing contractor dependency, which currently costs over $2.25 million annually, while improving quality control and institutional knowledge.

The initiative is projected to yield over $1.33 million in annual savings through reduced contractor spend, fewer excavation damages, improved ticket efficiency, and enhanced asset management. It also strengthens The Company’s ability to meet regulatory timelines, support capital projects, and maintain high safety and reliability standards. This insourcing model represents a scalable, cost-effective, and sustainable solution to improve service delivery, mitigate risk, and support The Company’s long-term strategic goals.

This session presents evidence from controlled field assessments showing how online safety training can be completed without real engagement or competence. We share validated examples of identity bypasses, AI-generated exam results, and training records that appear legitimate but do not reflect actual understanding. Attendees will learn how these failures create hidden risks in excavation, locating, and utility operations, and what practical steps organizations can take to verify training integrity and strengthen workforce readiness.

Understanding how online safety training can be completed without genuine participation, competence, or verified identity, and how AI tools increase this risk.
Recognizing the operational and safety impacts of unreliable training records, including hidden competence gaps that contribute to utility strikes and preventable incidents.
Learning practical steps to evaluate and strengthen training integrity, improve verification processes, and ensure workforce readiness in damage-prevention environments.

The damage prevention industry continues to face a critical challenge: fragmented communication among key stakeholders. Despite advancements in technology and policy, contractors, facility operators, utilities, locators, regulators, and service providers often operate within disconnected systems. These communication silos lead to delayed coordination, data inaccuracies, and preventable excavation damages that cost lives, time, and resources. This presentation proposes the development and adoption of a unified communication ecosystem—a collaborative, real-time platform that connects all participants in the damage prevention process. By centralizing access to data, permits, and project updates, such a system enables proactive coordination, eliminates redundancy, and enhances transparency across every stage of excavation and maintenance work.

Proof Points & Supporting Data:

According to the CGA DIRT Report (2024), communication errors and notification issues accounted for over 40% of reported damage incidents. A shared platform directly addresses this root cause by ensuring consistent, timely information exchange.
Pilot programs in multiple states have shown that integrated communication platforms can reduce locate response times by 25–35%, while improving compliance tracking and audit readiness.
Utilities implementing real-time data sharing with contractors have reported up to 50% reductions in near-miss events, demonstrating the safety impact of enhanced visibility.
Case studies from collaborative municipalities show cost savings of 15–20% per project due to reduced rework, duplicate tickets, and unnecessary field mobilizations.

As the demand for broadband expands, directional drilling crews are moving fast—but many small towns and municipalities struggle to keep pace. Limited staffing, delayed 811 locates, and the presence of private utilities in public easements all contribute to slowdowns, safety risks, and rising costs.

In this session, we’ll be joined by key fiber partners and utility owners who will share firsthand how ClearPath has helped them streamline operations, reduce downtime, and accelerate project timelines. You’ll learn how staying ahead of bore crews with private locating leads to faster completions, safer jobsites, and better bottom-line results.

We’ll also explore how ClearPath supports communities that may not have the manpower to manage the volume or speed of current fiber deployments. From identifying sewer laterals and water lines in public right-of-way to filling critical gaps left by delayed or incomplete locates, it ensures that construction stays efficient—and that what's underground stays protected.

Whether you’re a contractor, municipal leader, or broadband provider, this discussion will offer practical insight into how private locating can help you locate first, bore smart, and finish faster.

Digging into damages from the perspective of Health and Safety, as well as Human Organizational Performance (HOP), keeps your focus on creating a bridge between safety and operations professionals that results in improving system efficiencies and unwanted outcomes. The goal of this session is to simplify safety and give an understanding of human performance for all while solving problems that really matter.

Paul will challenge the audience perceptions of safety and introduce a transformative approach: Human and Organizational Performance (HOP). The session will begin with a psychologically safe self-reflection exercise, setting the stage for a new way of thinking.
For decades, organizations have implemented the same rules-based and behavior-based safety philosophies, expecting different results. This session will delve into the limitations of these traditional approaches while highlighting the urgent need for change. Paul will guide the audience through a critical examination of past methodologies and present HOP as a path forward.
Paul will help guests visualize and predict their safety culture’s growth and maturity. Whether your programs are externally or internally focused, or a blend of both, this session will validate the necessity of a fundamental transformation in your company’s approach to safety.

AI is everywhere - but what does it actually look like in practice? In this joint session, Tennessee 811 and Skapa share the real-world story of implementing an AI-powered quality control system for Tennessee 811’s locate requests.

We'll cut through the hype to show how Tennessee moved from reviewing a sample of tickets to reviewing 100%, resulting in 2-3x more errors found with the same staffing levels. Attendees will learn what worked, what surprised us, and how AI shifted agent workflows from hunting for errors to resolving them.

This presentation addresses two of the hardest challenges many companies face today: Compliance and Engagement. By challenging the status quo and the “what’s in it for me” mentality, this message effectively helps attendees overcome those obstacles by having them walk away with a clear understanding of how their safe actions impact themselves, as well as others, and allows them to make a personal connection to the reasons why it’s important to be safe.

Takeaways:

1. Connecting your actions to safe behaviors to gain a stronger understanding of how their actions impact themselves, as well as others, creating a clearer vision of how it impacts them personally.

2. Resetting their personal values to better align with safety standards to have a better understanding of how their actions impact them both on and off the job.

3. Resetting their personal values to better align with safety standards to have a better understanding of how their actions impact them both on and off the job.

Entertaining and internationally acclaimed, multi-award winning powerline safety speaker ‘Cookie’ will change your perception of powerline safety. Through practical examples and compelling storytelling, he demonstrates how to enhance safety for workers and businesses operating near powerlines.

In Australia, an average of 10 accidental contacts with powerlines occur every day. Tragically, around seven people are electrocuted annually, and approximately 50 suffer severe injuries, including burns and amputations. Between 2000 and 2024, there were 144 electrocutions in Australia and New Zealand — 92% of these were workers accidentally contacting powerlines. These incidents are preventable and often stem from poor planning, lack of hazard awareness, and a phenomenon known as inattentional blindness — the failure to notice hazards in plain sight. While underground infrastructure is routinely mapped and planned for using tools like Before You Dig, overhead powerlines are often left to be identified onsite by workers. This is especially risky in industries like agriculture and construction.

To address this, Energy Queensland’s Community Safety team developed the Look Up and Live app — a geospatial mapping tool that identifies powerline locations, voltages, ownership, and exclusion zones. Now nationally adopted and operated by Before You Dig Australia, the app has become a cornerstone of damage prevention and has inspired similar platforms in the USA and Canada. Cookie’s presentation explores the human factors behind these incidents and introduces innovative solutions like rotamarkas — award-winning spinning powerline markers designed to combat inattentional blindness. His mission is to empower individuals and businesses to make informed decisions and take proactive safety measures around powerlines.

Damage prevention success is ultimately driven by leadership—how leaders shape culture, influence behavior, and reinforce accountability at every level of the organization. In this session, Cliff Meidl, two-time U.S. Olympian and long-time damage prevention and 811 safety advocate, shares proven leadership insights drawn from decades of experience speaking at Global Damage Prevention Summits and 811-focused industry events nationwide. Cliff introduces his Hierarchy of Achievement model and aligns it directly with excavation safety and damage prevention efforts.

From leadership vision and cultural expectations to frontline execution, the model provides a clear framework for building consistency, ownership, and disciplined decision-making across utility, contractor, and 811 stakeholders. By integrating the Cliff’s “AREC” process—Anticipate, Recognize, Evaluate, and Control—with leadership behaviors, this session demonstrates how leaders can move organizations beyond compliance toward a proactive, prevention-first mindset. Attendees will gain practical strategies for influencing behavior in the field, reinforcing safe choices under pressure, and strengthening coordination between utilities, excavators, and one-call systems. This presentation is grounded in real-world application and focused on outcomes—the goal of reducing damages, protecting critical infrastructure, and creating a sustainable damage prevention culture that starts with leadership and extends to every dig.

The Pipeline Association for Public Awareness (PAPA) has developed brand-new Excavator Training Videos, designed to take excavators through the entire safe digging process—from planning and locating to excavation and emergency response. This collaborative project reimagines traditional safety training by blending visual storytelling, real-world footage, and industry expertise into one accessible resource. In this interactive session, attendees will enjoy a free video preview (with popcorn!), followed by an open discussion on the creative and strategic process behind its development. PAPA will share how stakeholder input and collaboration with operators shaped the project from concept to completion.

You’ll learn about:

The creative process used to translate technical safe digging requirements into engaging, easy-to-understand visual content.
The supporting resources designed to accompany the video—such as incentives, quizzes, promotional materials.
The distribution plan, including partnerships, digital outreach, and strategies to reach both professional excavators and smaller contractors.

This session is more than a video premiere—it’s a conversation about how we can better engage excavators and how creativity, collaboration, and modern communication methods can help us reach CGA’s shared 50-in-5 goals.

API and the joint Pipeline SMS Industry Team successfully published the second edition of API RP 1173. We will provide a mapping to demonstrate the updates to the newly released API RP 1173, an overview of the updates to the RP, and the three annexes. By October 2025, API successfully completed 9 contractor assessments. This programmatic offering brings management system expertise to oil and gas pipeline contractors, helping them better integrate their safety programs and assist operators in Pipeline SMS implementation as partners in the process. In the presentation, we will give an update on assessments for operators, contractors, and very small operators, the assessment pillars, step-by-step logistics details, and discuss deliverables, scoring, and 2025 benchmarking updates.

Come join us to review the latest efforts of API and the Pipeline SMS Industry Team!

The damage prevention community has made significant progress over the past decades, yet a critical gap remains: timely, meaningful visibility into underground infrastructure during planning and excavation. Facility operators are understandably cautious about sharing their data, while designers and excavators often work with limited information that can lead to uncertainty, delays, and risk.

Damage to underground infrastructure costs the United States an estimated $30 billion annually, and as more infrastructure is placed underground each year, the cost of uncertainty continues to grow.

FuzionView was created to help bridge that gap. Developed under the direction of more than 30 industry and government experts, FuzionView enables secure, ticket-based visualization of underground infrastructure information. Data is viewable, not shared, and access is limited to the area and life of an active 811 ticket.

This session explores the origin of FuzionView and how controlled, ticket-driven infrastructure visibility can advance safety, efficiency, and coordination across the damage prevention community.

As America races to expand both its energy backbone and digital infrastructure, new opportunities are emerging to build resilience, intelligence, damage protection and safety directly into the nation’s physical networks. "Stronger, Smarter, Safer: Integrating Sensors for Damage Protection and Resilience into the AI Infrastructure Boom" brings together leaders across the ecosystem—each shaping the future of infrastructure through innovation and collaboration.

This session explores how utilities, builders, and technology developers can harness intelligent infrastructure to ensure durability, ROI, and public safety. Attendees will gain actionable insight into collaborative strategies that unite bandwidth, energy, and protection into one connected, sensor-enabled network for the AI era.

Success always leaves a signature, and that signature is boldness. The bold don’t see the past as failure; they see it as preparation. They don’t wait to be chosen; they choose themselves. They ask, they act, and they take ownership because they know the future doesn’t happen by chance. It happens because someone is bold enough to create it. So the question isn’t whether opportunity exists. The question is whether you’re willing to ask, to step forward, and to own what comes next.

Completed on Time Percentage (COTP) is more than a performance metric. It is a leading indicator of safety risk, technician stress, and overall damage prevention performance. When COTP declines, the impacts are immediate, including growing ticket backlogs, rushed or incomplete markings, frustrated excavators, and increased damages. Strong COTP reflects adequate staffing, manageable workloads, clear communication, and a commitment to completing work correctly and on time.

This presentation explores how COTP influences technician behavior, marking quality, damage rates, and excavator relationships, and highlights how poor workload management can encourage shortcuts while well-managed queues support safer outcomes. Most importantly, it emphasizes the shared responsibility of locate companies, utility owners, and excavators in improving COTP through better staffing, training, ticket scoping, communication, and accountability. By treating COTP as a collective commitment rather than an isolated metric, the industry can reduce damages, improve safety, and strengthen trust across the damage prevention community.

Damage prevention is evolving from a reactive safety function to a strategic discipline that relies on high-confidence utility intelligence. As projects grow more complex and margins tighten, organizations cannot afford uncertainty below the surface. This session explores how Subsurface Utility Engineering provides the operational playbook to reduce risk, strengthen field safety, and deliver predictable outcomes. Attendees will gain a clear view of how ASCE 38 and ASCE 75 support quality mapping and data-driven decisions, how SUE fills the critical gap between one-call responses and actual field conditions, and how agencies, engineers, and contractors can deploy SUE to support safer excavation, stronger project controls, and more resilient infrastructure programs. The focus is simple: integrating SUE isn’t just best practice; it is the next frontier for high-performing damage prevention teams.

Key Takeaways:

Participants will learn how structured SUE processes, quality levels, and defensible data significantly reduce uncertainty, utility conflicts, and strike potential long before excavation begins.
I will demonstrate how early utility intelligence enhances design accuracy, improves coordination, reduces rework, and protects field teams by providing a clear picture of subsurface risks.
Attendees will walk away with actionable steps to weave SUE workflows into planning, design, and preconstruction, supporting a proactive risk-management culture across the entire project life-cycle.

The 811 System works very well when it is used. However, a significant portion of excavation activity occurs without an active 811 ticket, and those unauthorized excavations account for about 25% of all damage to underground utilities. Until now, the industry has had no practical way to detect excavation activity occurring outside of the 811 process. Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing (DFOS) changes that.

The presentation will have three parts.

1. The How – Dave Cunningham, President of Network Integrity Systems, discusses how the technology works in identifying excavation activity and why it is credible.

2. The What – Texas811 Director of Business Development Kyle VanLandingham describes the Texas811 Guardian system and how it uses DFOS to detect excavation activity and Texas811’s ticket database to determine if there is an active 811 ticket for that excavation.

3. The Why – Senior Level Manager at a facility operator discusses why adding this technology is crucial for their company’s damage prevention program.

Every year, millions are invested in safety and damage prevention training, but how do we really know it’s working? Too often, success is measured by attendance or a test score at the end. The problem is, people forget most of what they learn. Studies show learners lose up to 90% of new information within the first week, which increases the chance of costly utility strikes and safety incidents.

This session introduces a new way to measure and strengthen the human side of damage prevention, tracking not just what people learned during a training session, but how much of that critical information they retained in the days and weeks after — helping identify when critical safe digging practices start to fade. Attendees will see how this data-driven approach keeps crews field-ready, reduces human error, and supports the shared goal of advancing damage prevention and safety across North America.

Go Beyond Checkmarks and Test Scores → Why traditional metrics don’t reflect true readiness—and how tracking additional data points provides a clearer picture of field capability.
Beat the Forgetting Curve → How retention analytics help identify and correct knowledge fade before it impacts safety or accuracy.
Reinforce Without Slowing Work Down → How short, focused refreshers strengthen retention without interrupting productivity.
Stay Ahead of the Next Mistake → How predictive insights and targeted reinforcement can reduce human-error-related damages and strengthen a culture of prevention.

Global Damage Prevention Summit Education

Case Study: Igel Increases Efficiency and Minimizes Risk with New Excavator Focused Technology

From Crisis to Culture Shift: What America Burning Teaches about Damage Prevention

Utility Locating & Mapping Technologies: EM, GPR, Acoustic, SPAR and RTK

PHMSA Strategies to Ensure Compliance

The session list will continually be updated as sessions are approved.