Kodiak Drilling – Feature Article

Why does Kodiak insist on having private locates done at most houses?  That question can best be addressed by relaying the stories told within a recent TSSA press release related to deaths and injuries at two homes.

“On July 30, 2008, a residential explosion in Niagara Falls killed one occupant and injured another when a landscaper drove a bar into the ground, installing a “rail tie” wall.  The bar punctured a propane service line, running from the home to a pool heater, and the escaping gas migrated to the residence.  The gas built up to an explosive level, and found a source of ignition.”

The story is discussed in two press reports below:

Read the Niagara Gazette Article Here

Canada.com article Here

A portion of the second press story is below:

While investigators have determined a cause, there are many unanswered questions. The most significant being why the landscaping crew didn’t call someone to locate the service lines before they started hammering rebar into the ground.  “It’s up to the contractor to call in before digging.”  (Brian Biggins – Niagara Falls Fire Department) Contractors are obligated to call a organization known as ‘Ontario One Call’ before they put anything into the ground.  “They do all the ground locates for all services.”

Unfortunately this is somewhat misleading, as the propane lines were owned by the homeowner and therefore the locators dispatched by Ontario-One-Call member utilities would not have located this propane line.  Only a private locator would have prevented this tragedy.

The second incident occurred in September 2008; a man was killed while his wife was injured in an explosion in their home in East Linton Ontario.  The story is described in the following press article:

read the full article here

A key quote from the article: “…..the excavator, is also charged with failing to ask the owner to locate and mark his services. That company is charged as well with failing to protect the worker by ensuring that person knew the propane line was there”.

This highlights the potential liability of Kodiak Drilling and our client consultants for not having the owner provide the information about private services.  Providing that information is normally done by contracting a private locator to review the property.  This liability pales in comparison to the tragedy of an injury or death of a driller, consultant, or homeowner.

In nearly all cases, in addition to Ontario-One-Call, a private locator should be contracted for a residential project.  Private services can include pool heater and water lines, communications lines for TV towers or satellite dishes, electrical lines for landscaping or pool lights, electrical cables or water lines leading to sheds or detached garages, BBQ or gas fire pit lines, and infra-red heater lines, among others.  Relying on a home owners memory of where they “think” the lines are located is not a suitable alternative to proper locates, from either a legal or safety perspective.  If a Kodiak driller observes any services such as those above, their pre-drill safety inspection process prevents them from undertaking  any drilling.  Our benefits plan does not cover funerals !

Kodiak Drilling specializes in drilling in limited access areas and therefore completes projects at private residences on a regular basis.  Our drills are particularly well suited to providing minimal disturbance to front lawns and accessing backyards by traversing walkways, driveways, steps, fences and gates.  Many of these projects relate to geotechnical investigations for foundation and footing designs, slope stability studies, retaining wall designs, and home additions.  Other projects are for environmental consultants conducting assessments at homes related primarily to heating oil contamination problems or issues of offsite migration of contaminants from a neighbouring property.

The full press release can be viewed at the TSSA website; October 16, 2008, Reference No. FS-140-08.

TTC Subway Damage

It would not be a pleasant experience today, to be the contractor that undertook the excavation work that caused the damage to the subway tunnel yesterday.  Although it is in the early stages of the investigation, it is obvious that someone was digging in a place where the subsurface utilities (tunnel) were not adequately identified.  It will be interesting to see if the contractor had “complete locates”.  Regardless, no matter what locates they had (if any) were certainly not adequate.  It will also be interesting to find out if the excavation contractor is liable or the engineer/project manager or both.

Some excerpts of a Globe and Mail story are below:

A construction accident by a third-party contractor working for Enbridge forced the TTC to close part of the Yonge subway line during the evening rush hour Wednesday, stranding some 300,000 commuters. The route was shut down between Bloor and Eglinton stations for about six hours before opening last night around 8:30 p.m.

The service interruption was the result of damage caused by a construction crew that was cutting a trench on Jackes Avenue, which runs over the underground subway tracks south of St. Clair Avenue. The contractor, identified as Link-Line, was relocating an Enbridge natural gas pipeline. In the process, they cut through the street and into the subway tunnel.

“Initial reports indicate that it is something that could have been prevented with a little more know-how or preparation,” said TTC spokesman Kevin Carrington. “We really don’t know at this point why it happened, but we know that this crew was working on it, so right now the blame seems to be falling on their shoulders. Definitely it was not the TTC’s fault.”

TTC officials are considering whether to recover costs associated with the disruption, such as staff overtime, from whoever was responsible for breaching the tunnel.

“Money’s a big issue right now, and time and safety is a big issue. So eventually I think it’ll have some sort of quantitative value, so to speak,” Mr. Carrington said.

Debbie Boukydis, an Enbridge spokeswoman, said the company is co-operating with the TTC, the City of Toronto and the provincial Labour Ministry as they investigate the mishap.

“In terms of finger pointing at this time, that’s why these investigations are so important to make sure that we are able to determine exactly what happened. Number one, to learn from any mistakes, if that was the case, but also to assess what happened and who actually was at fault,” she said.

Ms. Boukydis said Link-Line was working for Enbridge and was performing an emergency relocation of a natural gas pipeline at the city’s request. Such work is closely co-ordinated with city officials, she said, including obtaining permits and determining the location of road cuts. The work started last Friday and was to have wrapped up by weeks’ end, but is now on hiatus.

The accident damaged a 22-metre long, 42-cm deep concrete slab. A small amount of debris fell onto the tracks. The TTC shut the line because it wasn’t safe to run subway trains because of the vibrations the fast-moving trains might create, fearing a worst-case scenario of a cave-in or tunnel collapse.

“Pavement tossed 50 feet in the air when drillers hit 4inch gas line”

The title of this post says it all !

read the story here

Locating Underground Utilities

In the Fall 2008 edition of Construction Safety Magazine, is an article on utility locates.

The most interesting part was on fines and penalties related to violations of the Construction Regulation:

“an individual can receive a maximum fine of $25,000, a sentence of up to 12 months in prison, or both.  A corporation can receive a maximum fine of $500,000″

This of course does not include the charges that the TSSA can lay.

There may be other articles in the magazine that are of interest to our clients.  The article is on the second page of the document located here

For more information on utility locate issues as they relate to environmental and geotechnical drilling projects, please see other posts in this section and the locate tab in this website.

This may be of interest to some of our clients – Ontario One-Call has developed a system to provide your work information to third parties (other utilities) to help you streamline your locate requests.  This document also details method for you to get your work information in an excel format for your own records.

Read the One Call Press Release Here

False Emergency

Ontario One-Call has posted on their website, their new policy on “emergency locates”

They are essentially reminding everyone of  the old saying – “a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part”

Read The One-Call Notice