Utility Locates Articles

$10,000 Fine

October 29, 2012 by Kodiak Drilling

No Locates = Fine

A TSSA press release advises of a recent fine imposed on an Ontario contractor for not obtaining proper locates. The contractor reportedly struck the gas pipeline with a backhoe than crimped it with vice grips. You can read the press release by clicking Press Release. A couple of quotes from the information caught our eye:

“It was sheer luck that no one was injured in this incident”

“…..TSSA will aggressively prosecute contractors who don’t follow the regulations requiring them to obtain locates and endangering public safety…”

Exudes Confidence !

October 29, 2012 by Kodiak Drilling

You “Should” be Okay ?

This is a quote from a recent locate:

Upon review of the work area specified on this locate request, we have determined there “should” be no conflict with TELUS facilities. We will not be marking TELUS lines at this time. Although we have cleared this thicket we ask that you dig with caution.

The locate actually has the word “Should” in quotation marks. Does this make you confident that the drilling area is clear of Telus?

Chuck Rench and Kelly Barr

June 22, 2012 by Kodiak Drilling

Locates Cartoon

If you read Drill Bits magazine, or saw our previous article about Chuck Rench and Kelly Barr, you are familiar with the characters presented by the National Drilling Association (NDA) promoting safe drilling practices. Based on our suggestion, the NDA used Chuck and Kelly to promote the utility locate message. This cartoon was published in the Fall 2011 edition of the magazine.

From the Courts….

December 20, 2011 by Kodiak Drilling

Charged and Convicted

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

TSSA Guidelines

December 20, 2011 by Kodiak Drilling

TSSA Guidelines for Excavations

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?