USP has formally embarked on a structured and intentional journey to integrate artificial intelligence across the organization. Last month, the agency created a dedicated AI task force to investigate opportunities, assess readiness, and design a comprehensive roadmap for responsible AI adoption.

As USP’s Damage Prevention Process in Alberta document indicates, and what the CSA Standard Z247 Damage prevention for the protection of underground infrastructure recommends, strategic decisions in terms of right-of-way regulations, standards, policies and practices can lead to damage prevention over the life span of a roadway and the utilities and pipelines within those rights-of-way.

A common misconception is that work taking place on public property does not affect private property. In reality, many underground service lines from homes and businesses connect to public mainlines or right-of-way corridors. To accurately trace these lines, locate providers often require temporary access to adjacent private property, even when the visible work area lies outside a property boundary.

Words matter. And within the Damage Prevention vernacular, they can shape how risk is perceived, how incidents are investigated, and how behavior changes. That is why I think we need to replace the term “Near Miss” with “Near Hit”. And there’s more to it than just a semantic adjustment.

Construction operations in Alberta are uniquely impacted by extreme seasonal weather conditions, particularly during winter months. Sub-zero temperatures, frost penetration, freeze-thaw cycles, reduced daylight hours, and variable ground conditions introduce elevated operational, safety, and scheduling risks. Effective planning and risk management for winter excavation and frost depth considerations are essential to maintaining project quality, regulatory compliance, worker safety, and schedule integrity.

I’m a bit unsettled truth be told.

This February feels too…quiet? No. Relaxed? Maybe. There’s a strong lack of looming that in past years has felt overly prevalent. Between hiring, onboarding, training and myriad other tasks that seem to all coalesce in February most years, this year is starkly different in vibes. Surely, all of these things still exist (and more!) but the transition from Q1 to Q2 2026 is almost serene.

On a quiet stretch of farmland, a bright marker stands at the edge of a field, warning of what lies unseen below. Beneath the soil, a transmission pipeline carries the energy that heats homes and fuels industry. Above ground, life goes on—tractors plow, excavators dig, subdivisions expand. The pipeline is both essential and invisible. And that is where the paradox begins.

For years now, private property owners have called their local notification centres to ask why the locator did not mark all the lines on their property. Notification centres have struggled to explain the responsibility of the asset owner versus the responsibility of the property owner.

The water may be muddy, but there are some general guidelines for understanding what will be typically marked by locators responding on behalf of USP members.