Thank you to everyone who took the time to review draft damage prevention legislation posted to the Utility Safety Partners website last month. The comments are now under review and will help develop the second draft, which will be posted to the USP website sometime in May. Once posted, the second draft will remain on the site for a 30-day comment period. Comments on the second draft will be reviewed and help develop the third and final draft, which will be delivered to the United Conservative Party for its consideration.

The CCGA Best Practice committee does the important work of reviewing suggested changes to the National Best Practices and taking part in the consensus-based process that determines what our guiding best practices will be. It is critical to the integrity of that process that the highest number of stakeholder groups possible are represented at the table. No single interest group can fully understand the important elements in keeping people safe, so every group's viewpoint needs to be considered.

Later this summer, August 25 to be precise, Alberta One-Call Corporation will celebrate its 40th year of incorporation. Over the years, how we've delivered our services, and even our name, has changed but our focus has always been public, worker and community safety - and it likely all started from an inter-office memo dated June 15, 1977.

Since October 1984, the message of "Call Before You Dig" (and more recently, "ClickBeforeYouDig™”" and "“Where’s the Line?”") has become a common mantra for homeowners, utility operators and the contractor community. These phrases encourage people to arrange for the locating and marking of buried facilities and overhead lines before their ground disturbance and construction activities are initiated. While essential for the safe completion of projects big and small, have you considered that the damage prevention process may include other steps?

Utility Safety Partners held its 41st Annual General Meeting last week — the second AGM since Alberta One-Call Corporation, the Alberta Common Ground Alliance, and the Joint Utility Safety Team unified resources to form USP. During the AGM, a new USP Executive Committee was nominated and elected. Enbridge Pipelines' representative, Shane Cleet, moves from Vice-Chair to Chair of the Board of Directors, while Kym Fawcett, representing ATCO Gas and Pipelines, and Perry Ellis, representing the Federation of Alberta Gas Co-ops, continue in the roles of Secretary and Treasurer respectively. Underlining the commitment to the unified alliance, the Executive elected Bas Owel of Global Training for Vice-Chair. Bas and Jamie Anderson, with CAPULC, are USP's At Large Board Members representing the interests of the former ABCGA.

When a Locate Technician arrives on your property, they will locate and mark the buried utilities relative to your proposed excavation project with paint, stakes, or flags. Those markings will be in accordance with the universal colour code and should be in sufficient quantity, and close enough together, to clearly identify the horizontal alignment of the buried facilities.

 

Like Icarus flying too close to the sun, like Odysseus taunting Poseidon, like Bellerophon mounting Pegasus and riding him to Olympus, I too am a self-wounded object of hubris and pride. A tale as old as time itself, I offhandedly predicted a potential fall after navigating a narrow and exciting path through one of the most taught and substantive hiring cycles I have ever overseen. Unfortunately, a shadow belied the land of Utility Safety, and we found ourselves short a moment too late, but none too soon.

Since Alberta One-Call Corporation, now operating under its tradename, Utility Safety Partners, began providing services, there's been a misconception that crews locating and marking buried utilities across Alberta are our employees — they're not. Additionally, there is also the belief that you have to pay for locating and marking buried facilities on your property after you've made a locate request to AOC — that's also incorrect.

Contractor Breakfasts are not a new or unique idea — they've been done. The thing is they just never seem to catch on over time.

Except in Saskatchewan. Somehow the SaskCGA — Saskatchewan Common Ground Alliance — has found the recipe for success. Before COVID broke out, they were holding 30 breakfasts per year. COVID shut them down for two years, but this year they're coming back with two events planned in Lloydminster (April 27) and Estevan (April 28).