I posted this photo to social media in early October with barely a mention accompanying it and to my surprise, it generated, and continues to generate, interest beyond anything I have ever posted before. Among the countless rain gauges, letter openers, magnets, pens, flashlights, pins, placemats and assorted other gadgets that have helped promote public, worker and community safety, this little red truck clearly struck a chord.

Asset owner members of Utility Safety Partners (USP) receive locate request notifications (tickets), assess the information on each ticket, and respond to excavators working near their infrastructure. Through USP’s Enhanced Membership program, members can take advantage of Enhanced Ticket Services, which offers state-of-the-art ticket screening software at deeply discounted rates. Enhanced Ticket Services enables asset owners to automate the end-to-end process of receiving tickets, assessing ticket information, and communicating important asset information, both externally and internally.

While the impact of CEPA’s demise among the common Canadian is probably low, make no mistake; its positive influence on pipeline integrity and public, worker and community safety moved Canadian pipeline operations to the forefront as owner and steward of the global standard. Delegations from all over the world routinely came to Canada to meet with CEPA members and learn how we design, operate and maintain pipeline systems.

There are over 400,000 km of transmission pipelines in Alberta. It’s staggering when you think about it but when you consider how much Canadians rely on hydrocarbons to not only enjoy our way of life but to survive, and Alberta’s abundance of oil and gas reserves (the third largest on the globe), there’s no safer way to safely transport the massive quantities of these products to refineries and market than by pipeline. As Alberta’s population continues to grow, people and pipelines safely co-exist, providing both abide by rules, regulations and best practices designed to protect communities and the integrity of Alberta’s critical pipeline network.

In March 2005, the Common Ground Alliance in the United States secured 811 as the three digit dialing number for Call Before You Dig. It was a monumental and positive shift for the damage prevention process, public safety and the integrity of buried energy and utility assets. “811” became the envy of damage prevention communications across Canada who recognized the benefit of cross-border promotion. With so many transmission pipelines delivering product into the United States, the benefit of a single safety message that could cover two neighbouring countries would have a massive, positive impact.

There has certainly been an increased focus and interest in the service since Alberta One-Call merged its operations with the Alberta Common Ground Alliance and the Where’s The Line? campaign, forming a utility safety super-group the likes of which have not been seen since Journey or Bad Company (they were all about safety, right?). Jointly promoting damage prevention both above ground and below, while retaining the key guidance of industry specialists, allows the USP to pivot toward a more encompassing support experience for excavators in Alberta.

It isn’t uncommon for people to open Twitter or Facebook for their news. They are immediate, searchable, there when you want it, delivered in bite-sized chunks and satisfy society’s unending hunger for information. 

In recent years, though, social media has also become a battleground. As society turns to social networks for its news, it has become challenging to know what is real and what isn’t. Never before in human history has information been so plentiful and so readily available, yet so increasingly difficult to trust.

On November 11th, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, I hope you will pause with us and millions of other Canadians across Canada and around the world to honour the memory of the thousands of men and women who sacrificed their lives in military service.

After many years of working in the forefront of damage prevention through engagement with industry and workers participating in thousands of ground disturbance training workshops, we have landed on Three Common Practices that should be highlighted in any progressive organization.