Mission
Gold Shovel Standard (GSS) is a nonprofit organization committed to improving workforce and public safety and the integrity of buried infrastructure. GSS believes that greater transparency in all aspects of damage prevention among buried-asset operators, locators and excavators is essential to drive continuous improvement, and vital to increasingly safe working conditions and communities.
Vision
The vision of Gold Shovel Standard is a safer North America, achieved by greater transparency in damage prevention performance, through the use of performance measurements, technology, and universal participation in the one-call process. Furthermore, Gold Shovel Standard Communities are safer, and infrastructure buried below Gold Shovel Standard Communities is at reduced risk from line strikes.
About
Gold Shovel Standard focuses on metrics, creating Gold Shovel Standard Communities and increasing the use of innovative technology and safety management systems.
Standardized damage prevention measurements are a key part of the GSS mission, and the establishment and broad deployment of metrics are core components of Gold Shovel Standard’s efforts to improve public and workforce safety. Gold Shovel Standard believes that no significant reduction in damages will be obtained unless all responsible parties (operators, excavators, locators) continuously improve, and measurements underpin continuous improvement.
More information on metrics, driving a reduction in line strikes, and data access policies
GSS works to establish innovative partnerships between utilities (electric, gas, pipelines, telecommunication, sewer and water / wastewater) known as Gold Shovel Standard Communities, to collaboratively form ever-expanding regions of increased safety and decreased risk to buried infrastructure.
More information on Gold Shovel Standard Communities
Success at dramatically reducing damages in the coming decades is dependent on the broad adoption of innovative technology and safety management systems. Gold Shovel Standard works to develop and offer the technology necessary to facilitate successful damage prevention. For example, Gold Shovel Standard’s ShovelSafeTM technology puts damages prevention at the fingertips of business leaders, giving them the tools for analyzing and tracking damage prevention performance.
More information on Gold Shovel Standard technology
GSS further works to promote the use of appropriate safety management systems, specifically tailored for damage prevention (DP-SMS) as a necessary ingredient to achieve the industry-wide goal of zero incidents.
More information on DP-SMS
