Episode Description
Every day across North America, workers excavate near buried infrastructure that could kill them and most of the people who built the system protecting them can't explain how the whole thing fits together.
Mike Sullivan sits down with Scott Landes, a four-decade figure in North American damage prevention who co-founded Rhino Marking & Protection Systems and the Excavation Safety Alliance.
Scott and Mike explore what the industry has built and what it is still failing to do, the absence of C-suite ownership of damage prevention culture, the near-impossible challenge of changing state-level legislation even when it's broken, and why Scott believes a simple cultural shift at the top of major utility companies could eliminate 99% of damage incidents.
The conversation closes on a practical challenge: what is the one action every listener could take tomorrow to immediately reduce the risk of a strike?
Listen for:
6:35 What does Jimmy Buffett's brand genius have to do with how damage prevention companies succeed or fail?
17:31 Why did it take 40 years for someone to write the first comprehensive book about the damage prevention industry?
21:32 Who is Holding Back Disaster actually written for — and what does it hope to change?
37:42 If you rewrote this book in ten years, what would you hope the industry had finally solved?
44:24 What is the one action every person in damage prevention could take tomorrow to immediately reduce the risk of a strike?
Connect with Guests:
Scott Landes, CEO, Excavation Safety Alliance, LLC
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