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By year end, the USP Contact Centre Operations, which remains the core of our service, will have processed over 465,000 locate requests and notified its members of excavation activity near their buried assets over 1.5 million times. That process, initiated by safety conscious Albertans, triggers a process that is designed to keep Albertans safe and maintain the integrity of our province’s critical buried infrastructure. This is the most locate requests USP has processed in Alberta in over 10 years and is a strong indicator of our provincial economic perseverance and our commitment to public, worker and community safety.
"After a couple bites of my sandwich, I turned back to my left to go back and talk to the concrete driver. After about three steps, that’s when I was impacted by the joist.” The aluminum joist, weighed about 80 pounds, dropped nine floors or a hundred feet, and hit him in the head. “It broke my neck, broke my shoulder, broke my rib, lacerated my spleen, punctured my lung.”
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“To throw a diver in the water, things have changed dramatically in the last three or four decades. Now with Occupational Health and Safety, we’re talking three-man dive teams and four-man dive teams for surface supply. Every time there’s an incident, there’s a review. Safety is looked at from a different angle and new things implemented.” Best practices are always evolving. “Because when you’re jumping into an unknown environment. what might be a great idea for surface supply in zero current is not a good idea for SCUBA in a high current zone.”
Years ago when I was a student, I had the good fortune of being gainfully employed to help fund my post-secondary education. I routinely made myself available for extra shifts and my supervisors knew they could count on me. One Christmas, I was asked to work Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. These holidays are BIG events in my family and missing them would be a huge downer. Nevertheless, expenses were aplenty, so I worked the shifts. It was, and remains, the loneliest and longest Christmas and New Year’s I ever had and I never forgot it.
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It’s cold, freezing, icy, and quite simply, just unpleasant. The only people digging right now are doing it because they have to, whether it be to repair essential service or complete projects that have gone on long from the season. Contractors and Members continue to install plant, upgrade service and repair utilities throughout the winter season to ensure they have all of their required systems in place for the following season.
The holiday season is a wonderful time of the year, but it can lead to an increase in hazardous situations and accidents. It is important to use common sense and to keep safety in mind as you welcome people into your homes. We tend to be more tired, excited, stressed and in a hurry at this time of year, so slow down, look around and enjoy the season safely and responsibly.
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Have you ever wondered how a pipeline system spanning thousands of kilometres is monitored? While ground and aerial patrols are part of a pipeline company’s monitoring system, the primary tool used to monitor pipeline performance is Supervisor Control and Data Acquisition—or SCADA.
Alberta One-Call was a communications service provider, operating under the direction of a Board made up of asset owners who funded the start-up operation. In 2002, Alberta One-Call’s mission statement expanded to mandate additional services. AOC became a One Call Centre, an advertising and marketing outlet for damage prevention messaging, an educator, a mediator, an advocate for damage prevention—involved in local, provincial, national and international damage prevention organizations, and active participant / leader in safety initiatives and ABCGA committees.
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After digging approximately 10 metres of trench, a live high voltage buried electrical line was struck. How could this happen when the closest conflict shown on the line locate drawing and as-builts were indicated as more than 30 metres away? When the excavator hit the line, there was a significant “BANG” and arc flash—it could have caused significant injury, or worse, to the spotter and the equipment operator. Fortunately, neither were hurt.
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Association News
