Why use a warning tape if everyone should be following best practices?
Using a marker tape engineered to be seen can be an effective tactic to address common pain points in damage prevention.
Issue #1) It's an unfortunate reality that not everyone follows best (or even legally required) practices. This means utility owners must consider the importance of passive measures in their damage prevention plans.
Issue #2) Just because best practices were followed, there is never a guarantee a utility won't be hit. A commonly cited CGA statistic suggests calling before digging reduces the risk of damages to around 1%. These damages happen for a number of reasons including locating equipment failure, improper/outdated records, or other technological or human errors.
Bottom line - there is no damage prevention method that is 100% effective, so it is best to have a last line of defense in place to protect not only buried utilities but the people around them.
Learn more about preventing damages with Signaltape® Underground Warning Tape here.