Grant Piraine
Jan 30, 2025
Throughout my career, I have dedicated myself to damage prevention, excavation safety, and utility infrastructure awareness. But my journey did not begin in a classroom or through formal training. It began in the field, drilling boreholes, excavating test pits, and, unfortunately, striking more than a few buried facilities.
Learning the Hard Way - 35 years and counting
In the early 1990s, I worked as a Project Manager conducting environmental site assessments and remediation projects across Canada. These projects involved borehole drilling, underground storage tank removals, and soil and groundwater testing, all of which required subsurface investigations. We relied on drill rigs, backhoes, and excavators to retrieve soil samples, often without the benefit of accurate utility locates.
This was when I was first introduced to “L” rods, sometimes called witching sticks, as a method for identifying buried utilities. At the time, the utility locating industry was in its infancy. There were no standardized training programs, regulations were unclear, and many buried facilities were either unmarked, misidentified, or completely missing from records.
Every project carried inherent risk. Not because we were reckless, but because we were digging blind.
Encounters with Buried Infrastructure
Over my 14 years in environmental consulting, I struck nearly every type of buried facility, gas lines, water mains, sewer laterals, communications cables, and even high voltage electrical lines. Each strike became a hard lesson in risk, responsibility, and the real consequences of inadequate utility information.
Some incidents were minor, such as severing a telecommunications line and disrupting service to a nearby building. Others were far more serious, like striking an unmarked gas line and realizing just how close we had come to a major incident.
These experiences were not just frustrating. They were eye opening.
I saw firsthand the massive gap in industry knowledge surrounding buried infrastructure and excavation safety. Contractors, engineers, and equipment operators were being asked to work in high risk environments without being taught how to manage the locate process, understand its limitations, or question the information they were given.
Shifting Toward Damage Prevention
The more buried facilities I hit, the clearer it became that something had to change.
Damage prevention is not about simply getting a locate ticket. It is about understanding what may be underground, recognizing uncertainty, questioning assumptions, and verifying information before ground disturbance begins.
That realization changed the direction of my career. I transitioned from environmental consulting into utility locating and founded OnSite Locates, a private locate company focused on accuracy, documentation, and risk awareness. But it quickly became apparent that even the best locating practices were not enough on their own.
Clients also needed education.
Educating Clients to Reduce Damages
When I first began providing private locates, many clients did not understand the risks associated with buried infrastructure. If a pipe or cable was damaged because it could not be located using conventional electromagnetic methods, or because no records existed, the immediate reaction was often blame.
But as I started educating clients, something changed. Damages decreased.
They began to understand:
What locate markings actually represent
The limitations of locating technologies
Why utility records and building access matter
How to verify locates and manage uncertainty
How to make informed decisions before excavating
At the same time, I learned how to work with property owners who often had little to no understanding of the private infrastructure they owned and maintained. These experiences shaped my approach to consulting and training and ultimately led to the development of formal education programs.
A Damage That Changed My Perspective
One incident in particular reinforced everything I had already begun to understand.
In 2005, while operating OnSite Locates, I was hired by a consultant to locate utilities at a large office complex employing approximately 50,000 people. One of the most critical assets on the property was a fire water ring loop serving multiple buildings.
I requested utility records and was told none existed.
At one borehole location, I could not tone the water main from a nearby fire hydrant. I documented this limitation clearly in my locate report, stating that the water line location could not be confirmed. Despite this, the consultant proceeded with drilling.
They struck the fire water ring loop main.
The impact was immediate. Fire alarms activated across all buildings and 50,000 employees were sent home on a Friday morning. The financial loss was significant.
When I arrived on site after the incident, maintenance crews were running around with as built drawings of the fire water system, trying to locate shut off valves. Despite being told that no records existed, the drawings had been available the entire time. They simply required effort to retrieve.
That incident reinforced several critical realities:
Excavators and project managers need better training
Many damages result from poor communication and documentation
Private locates are an investigative process, not a checkbox task
It was one of the defining moments that led me to create the Know Before You Dig Training Program and later formalize private locate guidance where none existed.
The Industry Has Changed, But the Challenges Remain
Today, the utility locating industry is more advanced than it was when I started. But many of the same challenges remain. Inaccurate records, misidentified facilities, technological limitations, and a lack of training for those performing ground disturbance work continue to drive damage rates.
Public awareness campaigns such as “Call Before You Dig” are important, but they only address part of the problem. The reality is that approximately 75 percent of reported damages occur after locates have already been completed.
Why?
Human factors such as misinterpretation of marks, complacency, and insufficient training
Technological limitations including non conductive facilities and signal distortion
Work site conditions like traffic, inaccessible connection points, and poor records
Excavators need more than a locate ticket. They need education that explains the process, the limitations, and the risks associated with working around buried infrastructure on both public and private property.
Final Thoughts
I did not start my career in utility damage prevention. I ended up here because I experienced firsthand the consequences of not knowing what was buried underground.
Every strike taught me something. Those lessons shaped my work, my training programs, and my commitment to helping others avoid repeating the same mistakes.
If you are involved in ground disturbance work, or if you own, manage, or maintain buried infrastructure, take the time to verify your locates, ask better questions, and understand the risks before work begins. Accurate and accessible records are one of the most effective damage prevention tools available. Missing, outdated, or inaccurate records increase risk, delay projects, and put lives in danger.
The consequences of a mistake are rarely limited to a damaged pipe or cable. They can change lives.
Grant Piraine
President and CEO
Own Your Safety
Know Before You Dig Locates
For more information on excavation safety and damage prevention, visit: www.ownyoursafety.com