December 12, 2011

VINCE VERSACE

Concerns over construction crews digging have resulted in the One Call Act, which, if passed into law, would establish Ontario One Call Ltd. as a not-for-profit call centre and a single point-of contact for all underground utility location services in Ontario. The bill has passed second reading in the Ontario Legislature at Queen’s Park

Ontario one step closer to mandatory One Call underground utility location agency

KELLY LAPOINTE

staff writer

The Ontario One Call Act has passed its second reading at Queen’s Park.

Introduced as a co-sponsored bill by Sarnia-Lambton Progressive Conservative MPP Bob Bailey, and Hamilton East-Stoney Creek New Democratic Party MPP Paul Miller, if passed, the Act would establish Ontario One Call Ltd. as a not-for-profit call centre, a single point-of contact for all underground utility location services in Ontario.

Centralizing this service would greatly reduce the risk of serious injury by providing a single point of contact for identifying utility lines, such as buried pipelines or hydro lines, at dig sites. It would also reduce red tape.

“Safety cannot be a voluntary exercise,” said Ontario Road Builders’ Association Executive Director Rob Bradford in a release.

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“The mandatory One Call system in place in New York State validates this approach, as they have half the number of incidents than we do in Ontario. The One Call system improves safety standards and reduces the risk of serious injury to workers and the general public.”

In the current system, excavators and homeowners have to make upwards of 13 phone calls to all local utilities prior to digging.

“With One Call you wouldn’t miss anybody. Because the one you would miss is the one that can cause people to lose their lives,” said Jim Douglas, President of the Ontario Regional Common Ground Alliance (ORCGA) .

In 2010, there were over 3,200 natural gas line breaks in Ontario. In 2008-09 two accidental strikes resulted in fatalities. In the United States, mandatory One Call Systems have been implemented in all 50 states. Over a four year period, damages to buried utility infrastructure decreased by roughly 70 per cent.

The ideal timeframe to get the locates done is five days, said Douglas, though the industry understands there are peaks times when locates won’t get done in that time period.

“If it doesn’t get done in five days, then at minimum, you have an understanding with the facility owner and the excavator requesting the locate that it will be done on a certain day and they have an agreement on that,” he said.

“There are lots of situations out there that these are becoming longer and longer and quite frankly it’s shutting down jobs sometimes, which costs everybody a lot of money.”

He said the cooperation is there. Ontario One Call currently has approximately 153 members, including the founding members Union Gas, Bell Canada and Enbridge Gas.

Passing this bill is step one in improving the call system, said Joe Accardi, Executive Director of the Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association.

“The second step is going to be working with municipalities to ensure that their utilities are well mapped so it’s easy for everyone to locate,” he said.

Education is key, Douglas said. The ORCGA’s Dig Safe program promotes digging safe but he said Ontario needs mandatory participation. Currently 35 to 40 per cent of line strikes in Ontario are caused by people who do not have a locate, he said.

Douglas said it is important to work with all three parties to ensure the bill keeps moving forward.

There will be those opposed to the bill, he added.

“We need to engage those folks, we need to help understand what their concerns are and make sure that we alleviate those concerns so they don’t put any pressure on politicians to not put this through.”

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