Kassi Zaba - Manager - Stakeholder Relations
Last week, snow fell in Alberta and officially signaled the beginning of the end of the 2024 digging season. Construction projects are winding down, homeowners are finishing up their yard projects, and USP’s Safety Ambassadors are wrapping up another year of outreach.
USP employs five Safety Ambassadors who visit stakeholders throughout Alberta to raise awareness about Click Before You Dig, the locate process, overhead powerline safety, and safe practices when working around utility and energy lines. You may have seen one of our brightly decaled safety-mobiles cruising around your neighbourhood this past summer. Each truck was generously donated by one of our partners, including Apex Utilities, TC Energy, InterPipeline, and ATCO. This year, USP replaced the aging Calgary truck thanks to funding from an Alberta Court of Justice creative sentence.
Since April 1, 2024, the Ambassadors visited nearly 1,200 individual sites, attended 28 community events and chatted with over 5,300 Albertans, including equipment and materials suppliers, contracting companies, municipal workers, facility owners, real estate companies, line locators, home builders, land owners, and more. Our Ambassador in Central Alberta, Jim Warawa, identified a new partner in damage prevention when visiting modular home suppliers. “This is an industry we have not previously been in contact with,” hesaid. “They were very appreciative of the visit and are eager to share safe digging information with their customers.” The Ambassadors estimate their safety messages and site visits indirectly impacted about 64,000 people this year.
Not only do the Ambassadors raise awareness about safe working practices with homeowners that seldom dig or contractors who may be new to industry, they are also available to support experienced workers and industry partners by answering questions and providing information about new programs and industry updates. In 2024, the Ambassador team delivered 38 safety presentations to stakeholders interested in learning more about damage prevention.
John Van Domselaar, Edmonton Safety Ambassador, discusses Click Before You Dig and best practices with contractors.
USP’s Safety Ambassadors currently operate in Calgary, Edmonton, the Central Alberta region, and the Grande Prairie region. Our Ambassador in the Industrial Heartland region surrounding Edmonton jointly represents USP and EAPUOC (the Edmonton Area Pipeline & Utility Operators’ Committee). In 2025, USP plans on adding a sixth Ambassador to the team – focusing on the southern Alberta region including Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, and Brooks. This year, our Calgary Ambassador, Kent Rowden, visited Brooks a few times and noted the positive feedback he received from community members, “A couple of people told me they had seen the USP truck around town during previous visits,” said Kent. “They were happy to chat with me about utility safety when I returned.”
As the 2024 season comes to a close, the Ambassadors are already looking forward to starting up again on April 1, 2025. If you would like to invite a Safety Ambassador to your event or chat with them about safe working practices, book an Ambassador meeting through USP’s website.
Left to right: John Van Domselaar, Edmonton Safety Ambassador; Terry Emslie, EAPUOC Safety Ambassador; Kassi Zaba, Manager Stakeholder Relations; Jim Warawa, Central Alberta Safety Ambassador; Dave Thiessen, Grande Prairie Safety Ambassador; Kent Rowden, Calgary Safety Ambassador.