 |
|||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
Events
2025 SPRING DIG SAFE EXCAVATOR BREAKFAST MEETINGS
Thank you to everyone who attended, presented and sponsored our Spring Dig Safe Excavator Breakfasts
Interested in presenting at our next round of meetings? Please email lori@orcga.com
ORCGA INVITATIONAL GOLF TOURNAMENT is SOLD OUT! JUNE 18TH, 2025 Thank you to everyone who registered early! We look forward to seeing everyone in June.
SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE
Sponsorship is a great way to support this year’s event. There are still some great opportunities available.
We are also accepting prizes for our oncourse contests! For more information on how to support, please email rebecca@orcga.com. 2025 ORCGA LOCATE RODEO
We are excited to host this year’s Located Rodeo & Excavator Challenge at Brock University in St. Catharine's, ON.
If you are interested in volunteering for this event, Competitor/Volunteer registration will be open soon!
Interested in sponsoring this year’s event? Please email rebecca@orcga.com for more information.
Education
The DPT 1000 is a four-week comprehensive classroom/in-field practical training required for locators if locating large and established utilities, including dedicated locators (DL) Two weeks - In Class Two weeks - In-Field Practical Training Dates: TBD To register and for additional information, contact: Kimberly Sheppard 905.532.9836 DPT 100 and 200 - Damage Prevention Technician Training (DPT100 and DPT200) provides instruction on the fundamentals of locating. The DPT training is focused on a combination of in-class instruction (in-depth review of techniques used to locate all utility types, safety, locate requests and industry practices), field awareness review and an on-the-job competency assessment.
The Safe Excavation Training (SET) course sets the standard on damage prevention and safe excavation practices around underground infrastructure. It is the knowledge requirement for excavators in Ontario. Excavators who successfully complete the training will be awarded the Safe Excavation Certificate, demonstrating they know best practices and proper procedures to minimize damage, ensure worker and public safety, and keep projects on time and on budget. They enhance their own and their company's reputation as professionals dedicated to the health of the industry and the public.
DIRT Reporting
Industry News
To help ensure both buyers and sellers of construction services for work delivered in Ontario have a better understanding of the Construction Act, the London and District Construction Association (LDCA) is providing a summary of its key aspects.
The Act is a critical, long overdue, welcomed, and important improvement over the Construction Lien Act to, amongst various benefits, improve the flow of money between project participants (a.k.a. prompt payment). Prompt payment for work/services, is covered in several ways, but importantly:
Two types of construction work/services are explicitly subject to prompt payment:
Improvement: which means, in respect of any landany alteration, addition or capital repair to the land,
any construction, erection or installation on the land, including the installation of industrial, mechanical, electrical or other equipment on ... TORONTO — Ontario is taking a concrete step toward an idea Premier Doug Ford has championed to build a tunnel under Highway 401.
Ford has spoken often of the need to address gridlock and railed against lost productivity as a result of it. He first raised the idea last fall of building a tunnel under Highway 401. In response to concerns about a project of that size potentially costing tens of billions of dollars he has said the province would do a feasibility study, however, he has pledged to get the tunnel built regardless. "The reason we're having a feasibility study is it's going to determine the length.
Can tech assist the balancing act between legal compliance and proactive measures when it comes to safety?
When it comes to digitization, safety presents an interesting paradox. On one hand, safety involves a plethora of compliance-related taskwork that’s prime territory for automation. On the other, safety ultimately depends on culture and the strength of personal relationships – two elements that can never be automated. It’s a time of year when the sewer and watermain construction sector should be bustling. But this spring, contractors in the GTA are grappling with a shortage of work and tradespeople are sitting idle due to factors including the uncertainty fuelled by Donald Trump’s trade war.
Despite massive infrastructure backlogs, very few municipal water infrastructure projects have been tendered in the region, said Patrick McManus, executive director of the Greater Toronto Sewer and Watermain Contractors’ Association. He said President Trump’s tariffs and their impact of pricing and supply chains are the proverbial last straw on top of existing market challenges that have projects languishing in the pipeline.
The Ontario government is pushing ahead with plans to cut the red tape and duplicative processes that have held back major infrastructure, mining and resource development projects, including in the Ring of Fire.
If passed, its Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, 2025 would streamline approval processes for not only mining projects, but also key housing, transit and infrastructure works. The government says doing so will enable Ontario to unleash the economic potential of its critical minerals to make the province’s economy the most competitive place in the G7 to invest, create jobs and do business.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens and Councillor Jo-Anne Gignac recently provided an update on the construction on the new St. Rose Stormwater Pumping Station.
The station will be situated almost entirely below grade, centralized within the eastern portion of the site, and will include an above-grade electrical building, and an emergency back-up generator — with an architectural enclosure to mitigate sound.
Construction of the new flood resiliency project began in the back half of 2024 and is slated for completion by fall 2026.
The project represents a $22 million investment through the City’s Sewer and Coastal Flood Protection Master Plan (SMP) and aims to protect neighborhoods from future flooding and ensure city infrastructure keeps pace with growth and development.
Ear to the Ground
Member News
Within the Enbridge Damage Prevention department, the team is always trying to come up with creative solutions to reduce gas line damages. One consistent trend we observe is a higher rate of damages from Sewer and Water work. Jason Syragakis came up with a creative challenge for a Toronto-based sewer and water contractor, CG Construction Services Ltd, to complete one full year of ground disturbance with no gas line damages. This was a lofty target given the volume and scope of the projects CG Construction Services was undertaking in 2024.
Do you have concerns about your employee benefits program getting hit by large cost prescription drugs? Have you experienced increasing healthcare premiums with no end in site? Looking for a solution that works and gives tremendous financial relief without decreasing benefits for your team members? Contact an expert who can help.
|
|||||||||||||||
|
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg){kind=logo}
