How Can I Get Gold Shovel Standard Certified?

Once every minute, underground utilities are unintentionally damaged by utility strikes during excavation work. This means fines, costly repairs, service disruptions and even serious injuries to employees. This past year, Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) has taken action to address the issue of dig-ins to underground utilities, a delicate subject faced by many in the excavation industry. In an effort to reduce the number of dig-ins and improve the safety of employees, they have launched The Gold Shovel Standard. The program, mandated in the state of California, is designed to ensure that contractors are committed to the safest excavation practices.

Cascade Drilling, a company that keeps safety as its top priority, has recently submitted a Dig-In Prevention Policy (DPP) to PG&E, the first step in obtaining Gold Shovel Standard certification. Jamey Smith, Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) director of Cascade, has found the program to be so useful and of such high quality that the decision was made to implement the program across all of the company’s U.S. locations. While business units in California will have a mandatory compliance component, units located elsewhere will utilize it as a best practice.