New Report. Same Root Causes. Maybe It’s Time We Change the Conversation.

Each new edition I dig through (pun intended) for new insights and trends, anything that we can use for marketing communications to improve public safety.

And every year, I find myself writing many of the same things I wrote the year before. New year, same insights.

In fact, I recently revisited an article I wrote nearly three years ago called Data-Driven Utility Marking Decisions. When writing that article, I used the 2022 DIRT report as my data source. If I wanted to republish that article today, aside from updating the report year in the title and a few small percentage metrics, I wouldn’t have had to change much at all.

The 2025 DIRT Report tells a familiar story. The top 10 known damage root causes remain largely unchanged and account for 86% of all reports with an identified root cause. The usual suspects are back: no notification made to 811, locator errors, failure to maintain clearance, improper excavation practices, and more.

When we look back at the top root causes from the 2022 report, it looks eerily familiar.

In the time between the publications of these two reports there have been countless conferences, safety days, education sessions, new products introduced, new laws passed, and even new equipment patented with the mission to improve safety and reduce damages.

All that, just for the data to look the exact same four years later.

Those ten root causes really fall into just three buckets:

• Public awareness (teal)
• Locator accuracy and efficiency (orange)
• Excavator practices (blue and yellow)

We’ve known this for years.

So maybe the bigger question isn’t, “What’s new in the DIRT Report?” Maybe it’s, “Why are we still having the same conversation?”

The damage prevention industry has done a tremendous job raising awareness, improving technology, and developing best practices. Yet the core issues remain remarkably consistent. Earlier this year, NULCA published an article that challenged our industry to think critically about whether our current systems are truly set up for success. I think this most recent DIRT data reinforces that challenge.

That’s why we’ve spent so much time talking about what we call a “Complete Damage Prevention System. No single product is going to solve excavation damage. The magic happens when multiple layers of protection are deployed together.

Marker posts and above-ground markers increase public awareness and tell people to call 811. Tracer wire, connectors, and grounding solutions improve locator accuracy and efficiency. Buried warning tape provides one final line of defense for excavators in the field.

None of these products are revolutionary on their own. Together, however, they help address the three biggest contributors to utility damage.

The featured video this week takes us back a few years to the launch of our Interactive Product Hub.

While the video isn’t new, the message couldn’t be more timely. Designed to showcase how our American-made products work together to improve public awareness, locator accuracy, and excavation safety, the Interactive Product Hub serves as a reminder that effective damage prevention has always been a systems approach—not a product-by-product conversation.

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Stay tuned for the next edition.

Have a great week everyone,