NE 2016 State Damage Prevention Program

Overview

Main Objective

Under this grant agreement, the recipient will: Use the grant award for utilizing the human resources of the Common Ground of Nebraska (CGN), a Regional Partner of the Common Ground Alliance, the funding from this grant will be utilized to strengthen awareness and partnership of all Stakeholder's in Nebraska Underground Damage Prevention while communicating the identified Best Practices in all Stakeholder industries through promotion, outreach and education. The funding from this grant will support the following identified initiatives for Nebraska Damage Prevention:

• The development and implementation of the 6th Annual Excavation Safety Summit. The focus of this Summit will be educational workshops for the Excavating Community, Utility Operator's and Underground Utility Locators, providing industry specific information, education of the CGA Best Practices and hands-on learning. Vendors with new and emerging technologies will be onsite to demonstrate and educate on new and existing technologies. Emphasis will be on underground damage prevention, awareness, recruitment and active participation in the initiatives of the CGN to expand the communication link among all Stakeholders and increase the shared support and commitment to Underground Damage Prevention in Nebraska. These Initiatives will also be accomplished in a smaller group setting at the local level through regional damage prevention stakeholder meetings. Specific issues unique to the area will be identified, discussed and addressed.

• Increase awareness of Underground Utility damage prevention to the population of homeowners and property owners found in the metropolitan and vast rural areas of Nebraska through promotional handouts, billboards, radio and TV advertising and direct mailings. Excavator Meetings will be held in an effort to educate all excavators about damage prevention and the requirements of the state damage prevention law.

• Communications between stakeholders will be facilitated through a White Flag project focused on educating excavators about the importance of white-lining and improved efficiency in locating by use of white flags.

• The program for damage prevention will be enhanced through the development, education and training on use of a tool to compile damage information. Conclusions resulting from the analysis of information from the system will help improve outreach and education in the area of damage prevention.

Public Abstract

Under the terms of this grant agreement, the Recipient will address the following applicable elements listed in the approved application, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. §60134 (a),(b).

• Element 1 (Effective Communications): Participation by operators, excavators, and other stakeholders in the development and implementation of methods for establishing and maintaining effective communications between stakeholders from receipt of an excavation notification until successful completion of the excavation, as appropriate.
• Element 2 (Comprehensive Stakeholder Support): A process for fostering and ensuring the support and partnership of stakeholders, including excavators, operators, locators, designers, and local government in all phases of the program.
• Element 5 (Public Education): A process for fostering and ensuring active participation by all stakeholders in public education for damage prevention activities.
• Element 9 (Damage Prevention Program Review): A process for review and analysis of the effectiveness of each program element, including a means for implementing improvements identified by such program reviews.

Relevant Files & Links