The following are the 2018 Fall Geographic Council Meetings:

Sudbury - October 23

Barrie - October 24

Owen Sound/Collingwood - November 6

Sarnia - November 7

Chatham - November 8

Ottawa - November 20

Kingston - November 21

London - November 27

Waterloo - November 28

Burlington - November 29

Toronto - December 4

Oshawa - December 6

Thunder Bay - December 14

If you didn't receive an invitation for a GC that you'd like to attend, contact Ashleigh Fehr:  ashleigh@orcga.com

Join us for the 2019 ORCGA Damage Prevention Symposium, February 13-15, at Sheraton on the Falls‎, Niagara Falls, ON.

This event is a signature event for the ORCGA, attracting more than 250 damage prevention management professionals and decision makers from across Ontario, including stakeholder groups such as oil and gas, municipalities, telecommunications, emergency management, electrical transmission, surveyors and provincial regulators.

Meet with colleagues to exchange industry information, focus on public awareness initiatives for damage prevention and expand stakeholder knowledge on provincial efforts to protect essential infrastructure.

The 2019 ORCGA Damage Prevention Symposium sponsorship opportunities have been greatly enhanced for this year; there are many new opportunities!

Symposium sponsorship is your opportunity to:

• Increase visibility for your organization.
• Develop relationships with new prospects and strengthen ties with existing clients.
• Differentiate your products and services from your competitors.
• Increase sales and build your customer base.
• Demonstrate industry leadership to delegates and decision makers.
• Align your brand with professional development and technology sessions.

The Damage Prevention Technician, DPT® program provides instruction on the fundamentals of locating based on locating processes employed by specific industries. Click here for the brochure. 

Click here for the DPT course schedule.

What is the Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT)? Who submits to it?
DIRT is a completely secure online database that allows damage prevention stakeholders to anonymously submit information about damages and near-misses, which in turn helps create an industry-wide picture of opportunities to improve safety. One call centers, facility owners, municipalities and government regulatory entities are among those who voluntarily submit data to DIRT.

What is the DIRT Report? Where can I access it?
The DIRT Report is compiled annually by the Data Reporting & Evaluation Committee based on the previous year’s stakeholder-submitted data. It provides analysis of root causes of damages and near-misses and makes helpful recommendations to the industry about areas where safety can be improved.

The ORCGA is now accepting papers for the 2019 ORCGA Damage Prevention Symposium, Feb 13-15, 2019 at Sheraton on the Falls, Niagara Falls, ON.

The deadline for submissions is Nov 30, 2018.

Every day, Ontario residents and businesses depend on the 65 Local Distribution Companies (LDCs) to deliver electricity to homes and businesses.

The Ontario LDC industry manages $19 billion in assets, employs almost 10,000 people who manage vast networks that stretch across the province serving nearly five million customers.

While natural gas is one of the safest fuels, hitting a natural gas line while working on your farm could result in project and harvest delays, not to mention serious injury and costly repairs for which you could be held liable. Are you digging safely?

The use of hydrovac trucks has become popular in urban areas in Canada, not just in the oil and gas sector. This powerful and efficient equipment has proven to play an important role in allowing for safer excavation where the presence of underground utilities can pose real danger to those digging with mechanical earth moving tools, and to the public.

Standard utility locating equipment is often limited by an inability to detect non-conductive buried assets such as concrete clay or plastic piping. To address this challenge, construction practices commonly require tracer wires to be laid out with non-conductive utilities, but this is not always a fool-proof solution. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) solves this challenge because it can detect the location and position of contrasting subsurface features.

Today, COR™ certification has reached a stage where you just cannot remain registered anymore, especially come 2019. The luxury of just remaining registered and bid for projects is soon vanishing. Therefore, it’s time to take quick action.

In an effort to reduce damages caused by underground cable strikes, Toronto Hydro’s Damage Prevention Team and Public Relations Department have been gathering and analyzing data comparing the volume of locate requests to underground cable dig-ins over the past three years.

If you are looking to make contributions to the damage prevention industry through best practices, reporting and evaluation, or events and education, the ORCGA committees are looking for your input.

Events and Communication Committee meeting:  Nov. 14, Dec. 7

Reporting and Evaluation Committee meeting:  2019 ORCGA Damage Prevention Symposium

Best Practices Committee meeting:  2019 ORCGA Damage Prevention Symposium

Contact Jennifer by email or call 905.328.7063.