Safe Digging Part 8

Step number three of our ground disturbance safety is Notification; it is our obligation to provide notification of the nature and extent of the ground disturbance and a request to locate to all the facility owners who were determined to be present in the search area.

The main purpose of the previous step is to determine which facility owners may have underground facilities that could be affected by the ground disturbance. The ground disturber must, as a minimum, notify all facility owners within the work area and the surrounding search or controlled area.

Please note that many regulations and industry practices (i.e. IRP #17 in Canadian Oil and Gas) state that although notification and line locating must still occur in the event of an emergency to any affected buried facility owners, the time frames involved may be reduce in order to facilitate emergency repairs of essential public services or to contain environmental emergencies.

When you are giving your notification, remember there are a number of legislation that have set guidelines and time frames for giving notification to the facility owner of the ground disturber’s intent to cause a ground disturbance within the vicinity of an underground facility.

The NEB (National Energy Board) and British Columbia One-Call require three (3) full working
days’ notice. While greater advance notice periods may be specified in the written agreement. It is suggested that a minimum of 2 working days, and no more than 10 working days are required. Keep in mind that working days’ do not include Saturdays, Sundays, or statutory holidays.