We Are Damage Prevention: Industry Perspectives

Narrator: “CGA has set an ambitious goal of reducing damages by 50% in 5 years, and it's going to take all of us coming together to achieve this vision as an industry. To get a pulse on where we're headed, we sat down with industry experts to share their insights. Let's take a look at what they had to say.”

Terry Newman (GAC Enterprises): “It’s a necessity. No matter what, it keeps our crews and the community safe that we’re excavating in.”

Scott Brown (Washington Gas): “Damage prevention means everything to me. It's put my kids through college, it's bought me a house, and it has been a very dynamic industry that’s allowed me to stay sharp and have great conversations with great people.”

Ryan Egan (Metronet): “Everything, I mean, damage prevention is safety. It’s making sure everybody goes home at night. Everybody gets a chance to make the money they need and live their life. That’s what’s huge for me.”

Patrick Donoghue (Kentucky 811): “To me, damage prevention means keeping us all as a community, flowing together. It’s keeping it safe. It’s keeping us all connected. Having that running water, that gas to keep your stove going, the Internet so you can watch the game. So, just keeping us all working and keeping us safe. Preventing injury.”

Marvin Lopez (PointMan by Prostar): “Damage prevention means to me advancements in underground locating, advancements in technology. Really, damage prevention is safety and the more you can do with new technologies, working in collaboration with others, also trying to push it through higher, like federal government, municipal, whatever it is, it’s all going towards that same goal, safety.”

Josie Scholten (New Mexico Pipeline Safety Bureau): “To me, it means protecting the public and protecting the infrastructure.”

Jim Schauer (Energy WorldNet): “Responsibility and awareness. And that means that we all have a play a part in the safety of everybody that’s involved in our industry, as well as our communities too – our neighbors and such like that.”

Brian Dean (Sunshine 811): “Damage prevention means everybody goes home safely at the end of the day, and when they get there, all their vital utility services are working.”

James Cross (Energy WorldNet): “I mean, that’s obvious right? damageprevention.com. I mean it’s such a good domain.”

Scott B.: “I think the key to collaboration is beingable to listen to what people say, to work with the other stakeholders, gettheir perspective, and then try to get to where we can meet in the middleground. It’s what collaboration is the foundation of the best practices for CGA,and that’s we leverage it every chance we get.”

Ryan E.: “Communication is key, but not just communication. Thoughtful, meaningful communication. Making sure that you’re communicating effectively, not just words and emails, but collaboration.”

Josie S.: “In my current role, it’s just about enforcing the New Mexico excavation laws. So, I do a lot of site visits. I’ll just pull up on contractors, check their locates, make sure they’re potholing, make sure they’re not blind boring. I have really good communication with the locators and the contractors in the area that I work due to my line locating profession before, so I’ve made a really good name for myself in the industry over the years. So, for me, I’ll pull up and I’ll issue a $5,000 fine on the spot, and I’ll shut them down if they’re digging unsafe.”

Jim S.: “Well, really, the way we collaborate is that we communicate. And I think we’ve really done a good job lately, especially over the last probably five to ten years of getting better and better at that. The more we communicate, we tear down the walls that are between us and actually start to talk about best practices, what has worked, what have we learned, what would we not do the next time, and share that, the better we are.”

James C.: “So we’re a training company at our core. EWN (Energy Worldnet) has been you know a vital part of training and the natural gas side, but in utilities as a whole. So, you know, our commitment obviously is around training making sure folks have what they need. They’re qualified, they’re ready to be on the job doing things. That’s an obvious play, right? But the second part has been a neat part of having the podcast has been able to share the messages with everyone else right our industry is about awareness and you know public awareness and just in general and so for us, Jim and I, we’ve been able to use this platform to really you know make echoes from the events that so many people don’t get to attend.”

Patrick D.: “Just everyone’s willing to worktogether. We’re all part of the same industry and team, so even if it’s water, theystill want to work with the gas side to make sure they don’t hit that gas lineor vice versa.”

Marvin L.: “I feel like at CGA '25, it’s been one of the best ways of noticing that the industry is finally at an apex of technologies, softwares, and also the industry as a whole coming together to really work on this damage prevention solution.”

James C.: “One consistent theme that we hear over and overis just look all the low-hanging fruit is gone you know we challenged that along  time ago and so really we’recollaborating in a way that these stakeholders maybe never have before, andwhen I say collaboration, it could be a five-minute conversation at lunch or atwo-hour session you know a working session with a bunch of stakeholders, but Ithink  bringing those again we heard itin the keynote this morning about inviting perspectives in and I think we’re doing a really good job ofthat.”

Josie S.: “I think a lot of it’s communication and collaboration. Especially in my new role. I really strive for communication between the contractors and the locators. Coming from the locator background, if there’s no communication, lines more so get hit.”

Jim S.: “I’ve seen the industry embrace the idea oftearing down the walls. The industry has had a lot of, at times, very muchsilos. And I see people trying to break down those silos and really trying tocross collaborate and really trying to communicate and learn from each other,as well as share, again, things that have worked well.”

Terry N.: “It's our culture.”

Scott B.: “Not important enough in everybody’s life,as much as it should be.”

Ryan E.: “Damage prevention is everything. It’s what we’re here for.”

Marvin L.: “Damage prevention is capital in your pocket. It is the less work you have to do, the less times you have to go out to the field, the more money you’re putting in your pocket. But also, safety, of course. It always goes back to safety. So if you can be safe and you can earn money, it’s a win-win.”

Josie S.: “Critical. I mean, we have to protect the infrastructure and public safety.”

Jim S.: “Our responsibility to do the right thing each and every day, and it starts at where we live and it goes all the way to the workplace.”

David F.: “Connecting, networking, andcollaborating to prevent damages to underground utilities.”

James C.: “It’s all of us. Right? I mean it’s a commitment. It’s not one. We’ve pointed fingers for a long time, but again,coming together, collaborating. I mean it’s all of us. It’s going to take absolutely all of us.”

Josie S.: “I am damage prevention.”

Terry N.: “I am damage prevention.”

Jim S.: “I am damage prevention.”

Crowd: “WE ARE DAMAGE PREVENTION!”