New Year — USP Locating & Marking Standard to launch in 2024

By Jeff Mulligan, Chair, Training Standards Committee

For many utility owner leaders and stakeholders, the new Utility Safety Partners (USP) Locating & Marking Standard couldn’t be published soon enough. The formative discussions lead to a vision that Utility Safety Partners would not only enhance all Alberta One-Call legacy service offerings but focus on emerging as an industry trendsetter in mission critical damage prevention initiatives prioritized by industry.

Enjoying a solid foundation and credible marketplace reputation, thanks in part to the Ground Disturbance 201 STANDARD(s), supported by the Training Standards Committee structure, consistently reinforced by professional training organizations satisfying the comprehensive three-stage audit review criteria leading to USP endorsement of multiple instructor-led and online training programs; USP was well positioned in 2023 to advance the Locating and Marking Standard. Establishing a working committee comprised of recognized subject matter experts, supported by USP team members, the consortium member representatives set out to…

…develop a mechanism to expand the resource pool of knowledgeable locators through endorsed training, certification, and competency assessment standardization. The view is to enhance the integrity of the locating and marking process in Alberta, as it pertains to those locators conducting these activities on behalf of the consortium members. 

What emerged from this process, is the Locating & Marking Standard.

The Training Standards Committee requires any new, or significantly upgraded, standard to be validated before publication. As such, when the call for interested currently endorsed training providers went out, GLOBAL Training Centre & ASTEC Safety came together to answer the call and committed to undertake the validation process, jointly. Through an intense iterative process, observing the important key milestone date of delivering a “beta” version of the Instructor-Led program by mid-December, we are pleased to report that SME representatives from four consortium partner organizations attended the LOCATING 101 class, in Red Deer, on Dec. 20, 2023. 

The insightful comments and input received from the SME representatives will enable the appropriate fine-tuning of the program prior the final audit review scheduled for mid-January. However, the six module, one-day program, that addresses:

1. Preparing for a Locate
2. Understanding Electromagnetic Location
3. Methods of Applying an Active Signal
4. Equipment Features and Accuracy
5. Executing the Locates
6. Marking and Documentation

received rave reviews, best captured by a senior industry attendee who expressed; “ASTEC & GLOBAL have knocked it out of the park!” More importantly, all consortium member attendees quickly agreed that this course and information knowledge transfer will satisfy a much larger worker/learner group than just locators. Many suggested office personnel and excavators would benefit greatly by completing this course to further address the challenges industry faces when it comes to improving consistency in securing locates.

Based on the feedback and enthusiasm of the attendees on Dec. 20, we are confident that the Utility Safety Partners Locating and Marking STANDARD will be fully validated and ready to be published, with an endorsed training program available for student enrolment by Jan. 31, 2024. This will provide a very necessary positive platform to advance a long-awaited first step to addressing a noteworthy industry challenge. 

It is great when a plan is executed by a group of like-minded industry leaders, a key component of achieving the shared vision articulated a few years ago when we launched the Utility Safety Partners project. Stay tuned, we have only just begun when it comes to delivering value to industry with new and innovative damage prevention training standards.