Grant Piraine
Apr 8, 2019
Excerpt from the 2018 ORCGA DIRT Report
Originally authored by Grant Piraine and published by the Ontario Regional Common Ground Alliance
In 2003, Ontario witnessed an increase in public awareness as a result of the tragic Bloor Street incident, where seven people lost their lives due to a gas line that was struck by an excavator. Consequently, the utility industry called out for a more thorough set of regulations, guidelines, best practices, and standards to prevent a similar incident from happening again. Thus, a new set of rules were created that required the excavation community to comply, without providing the necessary training needed to accomplish this.
As a society, we have many training, testing, licensing, and compliance systems in place to protect the public. The Ministry of Transportation driver licensing system is one such example. Drivers are not placed on the road without proper training, testing, and licensing. They are not simply provided with a driver’s handbook and told to drive. While this may sound obvious, this is effectively what has happened within the excavation community.
In 2018, there were 5,042 buried facility damages reported to the Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) in Ontario. Of these damages, 1,281 occurred when excavators failed to notify Ontario One Call to obtain locates, while 3,761 occurred after Ontario One Call had been notified and locates had been completed.
These damages resulted in an estimated 650 million dollars in societal costs. These estimates are based on direct and indirect costs associated with repairs, emergency response, evacuations, service disruptions, environmental impacts, downtime, production losses, and the diversion of emergency services.
It is important to note that these costs are likely underestimated, as the data only reflects voluntarily reported damages to publicly owned buried facilities and does not account for damages to privately owned infrastructure.
Public awareness campaigns such as Call or Click Before You Dig are essential and play a valuable role in reducing damages caused by excavators who fail to request locates. However, these campaigns primarily address the 25 percent of incidents where locates were not obtained.
The most concerning statistic is that 75 percent of reported damages occurred after Ontario One Call had been notified and, in most cases, public locates had been completed. The DIRT report categorizes the root causes of these damages into several areas, including insufficient excavation practices, insufficient locating practices, insufficient notification practices, and other contributing factors.
The quality of locate reports, the accuracy of marks on the ground, and the actions of excavators are influenced by three primary risk categories: human factors, technological limitations, and work site conditions.
Human factors include issues such as insufficient training, complacency, inadequate procedures, poor communication, and weak safety culture. Technological limitations relate to the inherent constraints of locating equipment and methodologies. Work site limitations include environmental conditions, congestion, access restrictions, and the availability and accuracy of records.
Based on Ontario legislation, the excavator is ultimately responsible for the locates. The Ministry of Labour requires that supervisors be competent persons, defined as individuals with the knowledge, training, and experience to organize work safely and understand the hazards present. Given the complexity of the public and private locate system, excavators and those directing work must also possess the competency required to interpret locate reports, understand utility structures, and assess marks on the ground before beginning excavation.
Grant Piraine, President, Own Your Safety Inc.
What Was Not Included in the 2018 DIRT Report
If there were no risk of striking a buried facility, there would be no damages. Unfortunately, the risks are real, and so are the consequences. The quality of locate information and the decisions made in the field are influenced by human behaviour, technological limitations, and work site conditions. Compliance with the One Call process alone does not eliminate these risks.
Human factors such as complacency, insufficient training, inconsistent performance, poor communication, and weak safety culture continue to influence outcomes even when locates are properly requested. Technological limitations, including non traceable facilities, missing tracer wires, signal distortion, and site interference, affect the reliability of locate information. Work site conditions such as weather, congestion, lack of records, and limited access further compound these challenges.
Together, these factors create a complex public and private locate environment where compliance does not necessarily equate to safety.
The excavator is ultimately responsible for ensuring safe ground disturbance. That responsibility requires more than possession of locate paperwork. It requires the knowledge, training, and experience to interpret locate reports, recognize inconsistencies between marks and site conditions, understand utility structures, and make informed decisions before work begins.
Many safety critical activities require task specific training, testing, and certification. Excavation around buried utility infrastructure presents comparable risk, yet historically has lacked a standardized awareness requirement.
Utility Infrastructure Awareness training was developed to address this gap by providing excavators, supervisors, and those directing work with the tools needed to understand the locate process, recognize its limitations, respect marks on the ground, and take ownership of safety decisions in the field.
If the industry is serious about reducing damages beyond current levels, the focus must extend beyond awareness campaigns and toward education, competency, and situational awareness for those who are already requesting locates. Meaningful reduction in damages will only occur when training and understanding are treated as essential components of damage prevention.