Archive for Utility Locates
Indoor Locates – ON1Call
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Feature Article
One of the problems we often encounter, is misunderstandings related to having ON1Call locates completed for indoor drilling projects. We are facing challenges with locate requirements due to the approach of ON1Call to locate requests that involve drilling inside buildings. The feedback we are getting is that ON1Call is refusing to provide the requisite locates when a request is made that indicates that drilling will be undertaken indoors. We can partly understand the response, as ON1Call needs to make it known to callers that they do not locate privately owned services, which are the predominant utilities normally found indoors. However, we don’t believe that this is fulfilling the regulatory requirements of ON1Call utility members to mark the locations of their infrastructure. Although we are aware that it is rare for member utilities to have infrastructure under buildings, it does occur in some locations. We are not aware of any exemptions within the applicable Acts (and associated Regulations) which specifically exempts one from obtaining locates when the drilling is being undertaken within a building. Discussions with TSSA personnel have suggested that TSSA also interprets the regulations this way.
The problems noted above are leading to very frustrating and costly experiences for Kodiak, our consultant customers, and their property owner clients. We are arriving at sites, prepared to drill, but having to refuse to do the work because the locates are incomplete (i.e., they do not have ON1Call locates). When we are told that ON1Call refuses to do the locates, we are all in a state of paralysis, as we can’t drill without proper locates and consultants can’t obtain them from ON1Call. We are aware that some customers, who are familiar with the issue, are getting around this problem by requesting ON1Call to locate the entire site.
Because of the above noted problems, Kodiak has brought the issue to the attention of Ontario ON1Call. Kodiak concerns were then presented to the Board of Directors of ON1Call, which includes representation from TSSA regulated utility companies. Based on our submission, ON1Call has completed a re-education project of their staff to advise staff that they DO ACCEPT locates for areas on the inside of buildings. Therefore, when calling in for l
ocates, consultants should be able to indicate that their boreholes are inside and still obtain proper locates for their project. ON1Call has asked that if there are any problems with these requests, people should call the Help Desk at 1-866-466-7613 or email solutions@accu-link.ca. We commend ON1Call staff for moving quickly to address this issue and hope that the implementation is as smooth as possible.
No Locates – Jail Time ?
Posted by: | Comments48 hours in jail for not calling 1-Call…..We need a law like this in Ontario !
From Bristol Tennessee, we get this news report – Fencing Company admits to Failure to Call Before Digging.
Most of the downtown was shut down after a gas leak. A fencing company official said his company was supposed to call the one-call center for a locate request prior to digging fence post behind a local shop. Instead, a company employee called 30 minutes after one of their augers ruptured the gas line. The company spokesman said there should have been checks and balances in place, but there were not. The fencing company was completing the last steps of a renovation at the shop that began last year. To get it done quickly, the auger crew began drilling even though the ground had not been marked. Gas line owner Atmos Energy spent nearly three hours patching the leak. About 10 downtown businesses were evacuated and streets were closed and traffic re-routed. In Tennessee, failure to call before digging is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 48 hours in jail, a $2,500 fine or both. Atmos Energy would estimate the cost for the amount of gas lost and for the repairs.
Read the news report by clicking news report
Updated Utility Contact Lists
Posted by: | CommentsOntario 1-Call has recently (Spring 2010) updated their list of contacts for their member utilities. You can get to that list by clicking member utilities.
We have some locate contacts on our website as well, that you can get to by clicking locate contacts.
We also have a printable pdf version that you can get by clicking on printable version. As it is a few years old, it still shows our old logo, prior to rebranding to Kodiak Drilling.
Frontier Utility Locating Services has a good system on their website for finding the phone numbers for locate contacts. You can select the municipality and see the phone numbers for contacts. You can get directly to that system by clicking Frontier.
Bloor Street Explosion
Posted by: | CommentsNew Trial Ordered
The legal saga surrounding the Bloor Street explosion continues, as a retrial was granted on April 14, 2010. Anyone who has any involvement with borehole drilling and utility locates is encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Bloor Street explosion. We have previously posted a number of articles related to the explosion in the “Resources” section of the website.
Based on media reports, it appears that the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has overturned the directed verdict and is ordering a new trial for Enbridge and their locate subcontractor. The company doing the excavation work without complete locates (Warren Bitulithic Limited) plead guilty in 2006 and was fined over $275,000.
In addition to the news items in our Resources section, some of the stories about the explosion and media reports on the appeal can be found below:
A good description of the incident and the recent appeal ruling, can be found in the April 21 summary provided by John Goudy:
http://landownerlaw.blogspot.com/2010/04/enbridge-bloor-street-gas-explosion.html
For some photos of the site
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/gary/blastweb/blast.html
Toronto Star story on re-trial being ordered (April 16, 2010)
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/796843–enbridge-subcontractor-face-re-trial-in-fatal-blast
Etobicoke Guardian stories on redevelopment, the appeal, and the names of the victims
http://www.mosun.com/news/MA-19032008.pdf
Story on the redevelopment of the site and the memorial garden honouring the 7 people who lost their lives because the locates weren’t complete.
http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/centre/article/55689
Whenever someone wants us to drill without complete locates, we would like them to read the press stories related to the incident, and to think about the seven people killed in the explosion, knowing that the reason for the explosion was that the locates were not complete.
1-Call Memo
Posted by: | CommentsThird Party Locate Requests
Ontario 1-Call has issued a memo (May 21, 2010), regarding requests for locates being submitted by third parties, which can be read by clicking here. It would appear from this memo, that one can no longer request a third party to look after the locates on their behalf. We have heard through the grapevine that some private locators have been providing this as a service to their consultant clients. This would also imply that one cannot use locates obtained by others on a site, such as a contractor who may also be working on the site at the same time who provides a copy of their locates to the consultant. Therefore, when Kodiak is drilling at a site, the locates must be in the name of the consultant who has hired us to drill, unless the other party will be “responsible” for directing the drilling.
Tragic
Posted by: | CommentsThere Must Be A Hydro Locate
It is absolutely imperative that at every site we drill there is a proper locate from the local hydro provider. Unfortunately we have had a number of sites where we could not drill because there was no hydro locate available from the consultant. In some areas these are obtained through Ontario One-Call, and in some areas the hydro provider must be contacted directly. A sad story from the Philadelphia Inquirer tells us all why.
A plumber excavating a trench in West Philadelphia was electrocuted yesterday after striking a 13,000-volt underground power line, causing a short circuit that shut off service to 1,300 customers for several hours, said Michael Wood, a spokesman for Peco Energy Co. Wood said the contractor had failed to notify utility companies before digging in the 800 block of North Brooklyn Street, near Lancaster Avenue. About 3:25 p.m., the plumber’s equipment came into contact with the high-power line, killing the plumber instantly and shutting down power to a large area. His name was not released.
Electrical service was restored after two hours, but it took two more hours more to make sure the excavation was safe to enter to remove the body, Wood said.
Under state law, anyone planning to excavate is required to call Pennsylvania One Call System at 1-800-242-1776 three days in advance so that utilities can mark the location of underground lines. “It is essential for the safety of workers and the public to call before you dig,” said Wood.
If we drill without a proper local hydro provider locate, we could be substituting the words “a driller drilling a borehole in ………”
I Don’t Need a Private Locator – It’s Only a House
Posted by: | CommentsKodiak 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
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:
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.
300,000 Commuters !!
Posted by: | CommentsTTC 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.
Gas Line Hit
Posted by: | Comments“Pavement tossed 50 feet in the air when drillers hit 4inch gas line”
The title of this post says it all !
Construction Safety Association (CSAO) Article
Posted by: | CommentsLocating 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.