Welcome to the year three of the Click to Know what’s Above and Below monthly newsletter. Did you know that you are one of 80,000 monthly recipients? Thank you for being a reader and being a partner in safety!

For four decades, Alberta One-Call Corporation, now operating as Utility Safety Partners (USP), has provided nation-leading Call and ClickBeforeYouDig services to protect public, worker and community safety. 

The Alternate Locator Program (ALP) stands at the forefront of technological innovation, promising to transform the landscape of location-based services and set new benchmarks in damage prevention. This initiative is not just about enhancing the accuracy of locating underground utilities; it's about ushering in a new era of efficiency and safety in the industry. In episode 48 of The Safety Moment podcast, host Mike Sullivan and guest Ron Laidman of Enertia dig into the core aspects of the ALP Program that make it a game-changer for damage prevention professionals.

Some years ago, Utility Safety Partners’ advertising agent, Doug Downs, suggested (rather strongly) that we try our hand at a podcast. “Really, Mike. I think you should try it.” Trusting Doug’s judgement, and also satisfying my curiosity for the unknown, I replied “OK, let’s do it.”

When ABCGA, Alberta One-Call, and Where’s the Line merged and became Utility Safety Partners, we imagined a collaborative, open organization where industry stakeholders could come together to make positive changes in damage prevention. It is our hope to provide a place for the voice of more than just notification services, but also contractors, locators, regulators, training organizations, suppliers, and asset-owners. We all have a part to play in the shared responsibility of damage prevention and we must work together to make sure assets are protected and everyone goes home safe at the end of the day.

Large project tickets are for areas larger than 60,000 square meters in urban areas, or larger than 800,000 square meters in rural areas. They are designed for pre-planned jobs that continue over a significant area and length of time. The large scope of these projects typically requires a planning meeting between excavators and affected facility owners in the area before locates are requested. These planning meetings allow the excavator and locator an opportunity to understand the complexity of the site, the project timeline, and plan a schedule that accommodates both parties.

And just like that, we find ourselves mid-sprint. 

Less than 10 weeks now separates us from this seasons’ crush of locate requests and excavations, and thankfully I’m mostly done shoring up our staff load for the 2024 season! If I still had an office door, it would be positively revolving with the sheer human flood of prospective hires that have flowed through my inbox these last two weeks. The “Relay Race” analogy feels particularly apt (and sadly prophetic) at this time; I feel like I’ve been running for the last 10 days, but once new Agents have been hired, I get to hand it off to someone else for a little bit while I catch my breath! 

Locate requests for underground utility assets now include an additional notification for registered overhead power lines. 

Until October 2024, Utility Safety Partners (USP) is hosting a pilot project that notifies those who are working in a dig zone of the presence of overhead power lines. Excavators receive information about how to stay safe near these overhead assets and how to contact the power provider for further information.

The answer is easy—yes! In Alberta alone, we experience 15.2 hits every day! That means that every day we risk people’s lives and livelihoods by not following Ground Disturbance best practices. 

The societal cost of this damage to underground infrastructure in Canada continues to be estimated at more than $1 billion per year. Twenty-seven per cent of damages occurred because no locate was made to a One-Call Centre while 31 per cent of damages were the result of insufficient excavation practices.