With 213,985 underground utility strikes reported in 2025, the manufacturers’ association and the Common Ground Alliance are putting the reminder where the operator sits
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers and the Common Ground Alliance have adopted a Statement of Shared Principles on safe digging, and its first concrete outcome is a recommendation that non-highway equipment manufacturers fit an 811 reminder decal to machines capable of hitting underground utilities. The decal could appear on all applicable new equipment sold into the US market by August 2027.
That matters because of the scale of the problem. In 2025 alone, an estimated 213,985 damages to underground infrastructure were reported across the United States. Each one is a potential power cut, a service interruption, or a serious injury to the operator or a bystander.
Why a sticker
A decal is a modest intervention, and that is rather the point. In the US, calling 811 before digging routes a request to have buried utilities marked on site. The failure is rarely ignorance of the rule; it is the moment of work starting without the call having been made.
Both organisations frame the operator as the last line of defence against a strike. A reminder placed where that person sits addresses the specific gap between knowing the procedure and following it on a particular morning.
“Adding an 811 decal is a simple, visible way for equipment manufacturers to remind operators to contact 811 before digging or working near underground infrastructure,” said Megan Tanel, AEM president and CEO.
“Preventing damage to underground infrastructure is a shared responsibility, and this best practice will remind equipment operators closest to the dig to contact 811 before starting their work,” said Sarah K. Magruder Lyle, president and CEO of the Common Ground Alliance.
What manufacturers should note
The recommendation is endorsed by both boards, which gives it weight as an industry best practice rather than a regulation. There is no obligation attached, and the August 2027 date is a target rather than a deadline.
For manufacturers selling into the US, the practical question is which machines count as applicable and where the decal goes, since a reminder the operator cannot see from the seat achieves nothing. For contractors and rental companies, the more useful consequence may be indirect: an industry best practice tends to become the reference point when a strike is investigated afterwards.
The initiative applies to equipment sold into the United States, where 811 is the national number. Manufacturers building the same machines for other markets will have to decide whether a US-specific decal travels with them.
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