PelicanCorp proudly support the inaugural 2018 Oceania Damage Prevention Conference.
The inaugural Oceania Damage Prevention Conference, held on the Gold Coast in August 2018, brought together representatives from all sectors within the utility industry and provided an opportunity which damage prevention professionals in the Oceania region have been anticipating for years – an event dedicated to showcasing damage prevention efforts and best practice and public awareness initiatives across Australia and New Zealand.
With unilateral support from both the state and national sectors, Platinum Sponsor, DBYD was instrumental in the development of this breakthrough event which was the first time all stakeholder groups have gathered together to discuss how to improve damage prevention efforts. With 8% of attendance comprised of international delegates, and professionals representing One Call operators, locators, contractors, asset owners, engineers, and more, delegates had a unique opportunity to learn perspectives not only across industry, but across nations.
PelicanCorp were proud to be a major sponsor of the event and work together with the team from ODPC to help make the conference a success. “It was such a fantastic opportunity to see delegates attend from all over the globe. This was truly the first real global damage prevention event I have attended. The learnings and experience from across all stakeholder groups gave the team at PelicanCorp real insight into the challenges faced in the industry today” said Duane Rodgers, PelicanCorp CEO.
Daily plenary sessions provided a strong start to each day, offering an opportunity for senior industry leaders to present, discuss and explore trends and future opportunities impacting the utilities sector.
The first ever Global Locate Summit, drew together a panel of industry experts who discussed their ideas for attracting and retaining the right people in the industry and how to offer school leavers and graduates career paths within utility location and the broader damage prevention industry.
A common theme promoted across the conference was working collaboratively to identify best practice and share sector learnings. “This is a challenge that Dial Before You Dig will embrace,” said Stuart Burdack, AADYBDS CEO, “We have established good working relationships with industry peak bodies and several research bodies and look forward to facilitating a range of cross sector projects over the next couple of years to report back to the 2020 Damage Prevention Conference.”
Wednesday evening everyone took a break to relax and network at the Star Hotel. Tom Scott, Hunter Water Corporation, was the lucky recipient of a trip for 2 to Tampa, Florida in March, 2019 to attend the largest international industry event, CGA 811 Excavation Safety Conference & Expo, courtesy of Oceania Damage Prevention Conference founding sponsors Infrastructure Resources and PelicanCorp.
“The 2018 Oceania Damage Prevention Conference on the Gold Coast was a vital educational and networking link between all key activists in the infrastructure asset management industry. I cannot wait for the next conference in Sydney 2020” said Christopher Reynolds, DBYD SA/NT.
Without a doubt, the 2018 Oceania Damage Prevention Conference was an unmitigated success. The quality of presentations and cross-sector participation and contributions from the broad range of stakeholders in the utility construction, operations and maintenance industry was unique. 95.5% of surveyed delegates rated their overall satisfaction to be above average and 95.5% of them said they plan to attend future Oceania Damage Prevention Conference.
They will get their chance to do just that when the Oceania Damage Prevention Conference returns in 2020 in Sydney even bigger and better than the inaugural event this year.
To learn more about what happened in 2018, or to be among the first to know what’s happening in 2020, go to OceaniaDPC.com and click on “Event Updates” in the upper-right corner.