Commercial And Industrial Property Owners; Do You KNOW Your Role?

***ALERT Commercial Property Owners*** Do you know the role you play in the public and private locate process when someone is digging on your property? Are you aware of the steps you need to follow to reduce the risk of damages near the buried utility infrastructure that you own? Here are a few quick tips that you can follow to keep the risk of striking a buried facility to a minimum when anyone digs or breaks ground on your property:

1) Public Locates – Ensure that any contractor excavating on your property calls Ontario One Call and waits for the marks on the ground and locate reports for any public utility owned buried infrastructure on your property.

2) Private Locates - Ensure that any contractor excavating on your property hires a private locate contractor on your behalf to obtain locates for your privately-owned buried utility infrastructure. A private locate contractor should not be hired in lieu of calling Ontario One Call. Both public and private locators mark different sections of a buried facility on private property.

3) Utility Records – Provide utility records / drawings of your privately-owned buried utility infrastructure to the private locator. If you do not have utility drawings, there is an increased risk that the private locate contractor may not find all your buried utility infrastructure.

4) Knowledgeable Personnel – Property personnel that know about the buried utility infrastructure on the property will be able to help the private locate contractor find and/or troubleshoot any difficulties encountered during the private locate process. Having this person(s) available at the time of the private locate will help reduce the risk of missing a buried facility.

5.) Mechanical Room Access – A private locate contractor requires access to mechanical rooms when locating and marking the private buried utility infrastructure. Without access, the risk of missing a buried facility greatly increases.

KNOWING your role in the public and private locate process as a property owner when you or anyone is digging on your property, will ensure that risks are kept to a minimum when digging around buried utility infrastructure on private property.