Building on the tremendous success of the first “Smart Remediation” conference last year, organizers have been planning an event for this year.  You can get all the details by clicking Smart Remediation.

Although this is not directly related to drilling, knowing that many of our clients are also involved with excavations for soil remediation or construction projects, we have enclosed a link below to a Ministry of Labour YouTube video on excavation safety.

Watch the video

Safety is a key feature of the Fall 2011 edition of The Source, a publication of the Ontario Ground Water Association (OGWA).  Our feature article from a 2010 newsletter entitled Drilling Is Not Dangerous caught the attention of OGWA and was published in the magazine.  The article can be found in the safety section of our articles or in the magazine.  We applaud OGWA for encouraging safety within the groundwater industry.  More information about the Ontario Ground Water Association can be found by clicking OGWA.

We would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate our colleague Dave Gunn of Geo-Environmental Drilling who will be taking over the presidency of OGWA.  Dave is well known in our industry as a proponent of safe drilling practices in environmental and geotechnical drilling.

As you are likely aware, when monitoring wells are installed by Kodiak, a well record is filed with the Ministry of Environment (MOE).  Included with the record is a drawing showing the location of the installed wells.  We have provided below, some guidelines to help you prepare drawings that are consistent with the MOE requirements.

Requirements

• There must be two measurements for each well, including a measurement from the well to a known feature.
• Features for well measurements that the MOE considers acceptable include 1) edge of street, 2) property line, 3) rail line, 4) river bank, 5) Lot/concession.  The measurement can not be to another well.  Features for measurements should be permanent, with curved features being avoided.
• Orientation of the features used for measurements is important – they should each be perpendicular to each other (see our examples below).

Plan and Draw

• Include a north arrow.
• Include streets, property lines, well symbols, dimension lines, street names, well labels, property numbers.
• Dimensions should be in metres.
• Indicate which well has the tag.

The Canadian Geotechnical Society held an evening event on December 14 “Becoming A Better Expert Witness: Defending Yourself, Improving Your Delivery and Disclaiming Damages”.  You can access the notes for this lecture by clicking here.

Other recent events included:

“An Introduction to Ground Modification, Earth Retention, and Specialty Deep Foundations” and

“The Consequences of Tailings Dam Failures”

You can keep up to date on upcoming CGS events by clicking here

When Kodiak brought Big Beaver drilling to southern Ontario in 1996, it was revolutionary in the field of limited access drilling.  A machine that was larger and more powerful than the Pionjar and smaller and more nimble than the truck and track mounted machines commonly being used.  We brought the capability of doing SPTs with small equipment and introduced the concept of running a drill that was physically separate from a power unit, allowing for drilling indoors without fumes.  Since that time, other modifications have been made, including the introduction of “Shorty”; a short tower that allows us to run the 140lb hammer with only 8ft of headroom.

Now, a significant improvement has been made to one of our units by increasing the output of the power source by over 30% (from 18hp to 24hp).  This increase has allowed us to change the rotation head to increase the torque  from ~500 ft lbs to ~800 ft lbs !  Although the penetration of the drill is still subject to the weight limitations of the machine, the increased rotation torque will allow us to rotate through more difficult formations.  We are constantly being pressured by our clients to push the limits with this machine – this will allow us to push even further in many instances.

The MOE (Ministry of Environment) and the APGO (Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario) have both issued final versions of their documents related to the new RSC regulations.  We have enclosed links below for both:

MOE -  Guide for Completing Phase Two Environmental Site Assessments under Ontario Regulation 153/04

APGO – Guidance for Environmental Site Assessments under Ontario Regulation 153/04 (as amended)

In addition, some changes were made to Regulation 153/04 – in order to make sure you are referring to the most up to date version, you can click on the e-laws version of the regulation.

From the legal files, we have a recent conviction and some new charges:

Convicted

October 2011 – An Employer and supervisor pleaded guilty to a charge under section 228(1)(a) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 resulting in fines of $20,000 and $2,500 respectively.  This was the result of an incident investigation from April 2010 where workers hit a 1 ¼” natural gas line while excavating at a residence in St. Catharines.  It was determined that locates were not performed prior to beginning the excavation.

May 2011 – Two employers on the same project plead guilty to charges under section 228(1)(a) of Ontario Regulation 213/91 and received fines of $6500 and $20,000.  This was the result of an incident investigation from August of 2008 where a gas line was cut during and excavation for an electrical duct at an institutional project in Milton.

Charged

October 2011 – A worker was issued a summons – issued under section 228(1)(b) of O. Reg. 213/91 (a section related to utility locates).  We will stay tuned to see if this worker is convicted.

Follow up

A follow up to our article regarding private locates and the explosion that killed one person near Owen Sound – In reviewing Ministry of Labour Court Bulletins, we came across the guilty plea of the construction company with a an imposed fine of $225,000.  The press release can be found by clicking press release.  As a reminder, this incident involved a house where private locates had not been completed.  More information can be found in our Feature Article on private locates at houses in the utility locate section of our articles.

Ministry of Labour Court Bulletins can be found by clicking Court Bulletins.

Information courtesy Ontario Ministry of Labour

The TSSA document “Guidelines For Excavations In The Vicinity of Gas Lines” November 2004 has recently been updated.  For the update, TSSA worked with the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) to produce a new document to harmonize the requirements with the electrical utility requirements.  The new document  “Guidelines For Excavations In The Vicinity of Utility Lines” is available from the TSSA by clicking here.

The document is relatively short and easy to read.  We would strongly encourage all project managers and field technicians who are contracting drillers, undertaking construction excavations, or overseeing remediation excavations to review this information.

Specific attention should be given to Section 2.0:

Prior to excavation the person responsible for the work shall contact “Ontario One Call” at the telephone or facsimile numbers listed in Table 1 below, or the utility, and request a locate of utility lines in the areas where excavation will be taking place. The Excavator must receive the locate as described in Section 3.0 prior to commencing any excavation.

Consultants should be aware that the phrase “…. person responsible for the work…..” clearly identifies them as the responsible party should there be any problem with incomplete locates.  We always find it surprising that consultants show us the locates and then ask “are these okay with you?”, as if we are some sort of an approval authority.  If a consultant is taking on the responsibility for the excavation, shouldn’t they satisfy themselves that they know what it means to have proper and complete locates and govern their actions accordingly?

In a previous post, we indicated that a new trial had been ordered for Enbridge in the Bloor Street explosion.  For those who have forgotten, this was an explosion that leveled a building and killed 7 people because the utility locates were not completed properly.  We have posted below, information from that release as well as a link to the full press release.  As outlined, the fines related to this incident now total over $1 million.  We have heard rumors that a full inquiry may be the next step in this saga.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Toronto, ON, December 16, 2011) – Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. pled guilty to a charge under the Technical Standards and Safety Act, 2000 (the Act) for its role in a natural gas explosion on April 24, 2003 at 3887 Bloor St. West in Toronto that killed seven people, seriously injured four others, destroyed a two-story commercial and residential building, and caused extensive damage to adjacent properties.

The Ontario Provincial Offences Court imposed a fine of $350,000 plus a 25% victim surcharge of $87,500 for a total fine of $437,500 against Enbridge for failing to provide as accurate information as possible regarding the location of underground natural gas pipelines as required under the Act.

To read the full news release, please click here