Utility Safety Partner Welcomes a Big Name

Mike Sullivan - President, Utility Safety Partners

Rogers Communications has been a USP member for quite some time; however, the company’s acquisition of Shaw Communications’ assets is a damage prevention game changer in Alberta.

Up until recently, anytime a diligent excavator was preparing to disturb the ground anywhere in Alberta, they would submit a locate request to USP and another directly to DigShaw. The parallel locate request process created an unnecessary second step that was sometimes overlooked. 

Today, that’s all in the past.

Now, when you submit a locate request to USP, buried assets, formerly owned by Shaw Communications that intersect with your excavation project, will initiate a notification to Rogers the same way any other buried utility registered with USP would be notified.

“It might not sound like a big deal but trust me, it is!” says USP Operations Director and current longest-serving employee Sher Kirk. “Over the years, I’ve been in a few different roles over the years, and I’ve heard it all, like ‘Why can’t you guys get Shaw on board? What’s the holdup? You’re supposed to be Alberta ONE-Call!” Well, it finally happened.

“When news broke that Rogers Communications was acquiring Shaw, we were fairly certain the buried assets would finally be registered with USP,” says USP Technical Administrator Tasha Hunter. “Everything pointed that way from the get-go, but we knew Rogers had a tremendous amount of work to do so we waited patiently as they sorted through the process.”

All the anticipation and guessing were laid to rest at 10 a.m. on April 3 when Shaw Communications’ assets, now owned and operated by Rogers Communications, went live in USP’s system. From that point forward, the damage prevention process was simplified. But Alberta wasn’t the only province experiencing this game changer — so too did Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia!

From all of us to everyone at Rogers Communications, thank you for being our Safety Partner!