THE DAMAGE PREVENTION PROCESS IN ALBERTA SUCCESSES

1
THE DAMAGE PREVENTION PROCESSIN
ALBERTASUCCESSES

• Edmonton Area Pipeline and Utility Operators
  Committee
• 24th Annual Safety Seminar
• 04 April 2006
• Robert R. Chisholm, P.Eng.
• President
• Alberta One-Call Corporation

2
GENESIS

• 1979 was the critical year
• Millwoods Incident
• ERCB investigation
• Formation of EAPUOC
• gt 8,600 ground disturbance damages
• Formation of Alberta One-Call System Committee
• Feasibility study
• Formation of Alberta One-Call

3
1979 - 2006

• 27 years a generation
• Most people that installed buried facilities in
  the 1970s have retired!
• Ground disturbance damages to buried facilities
  continue to occur too frequently!
• Think about what has changed for the better in
  your world with respect to ground disturbances
  and damage prevention.
• Much has changed!

4
DAMAGE PREVENTION COMMITTEES

• Edmonton Area Pipeline and Utility Operators
  Committee
• Calgary Region Utility Damage Prevention
  Committee
• Lethbridge Utility Co-ordination Committee
• Edmonton Utility Damage Prevention Committee
• Edmonton Fringe Damage Prevention Committee
• Alberta Damage Prevention Council

5
EAPUOC

• Annual safety seminar attracts 500 every year
• Gronk the Eapuocasaurus attends many family
  functions each year
• Tens of thousands of copies of Guidelines for
  Working Near Buried Facilities distributed
• Videos
• Call down system unique in North America

6
CRUDPC

• Videos
• Frozen ground study
• Contractor training sessions
• Damage statistics
• Joint locating feasibility study

7
EDMONTON / EDMONTON FRINGE

• Manage joint contract locating contracts
• Standard locating contract suitable for
  province-wide use
• Locator competency profile

8
ADPC

• Damage prevention / safety seminars
• The Damage Prevention Process in Alberta
• Regional Partner, Common Ground Alliance
• Includes the Ground Disturbance Stakeholders
  Committee
• Keeper of industry best practices
• Provides a table to which individual stakeholders
  can bring issues for discussion and resolution

9
DAMAGE PREVENTION CONSULTANTS

• Jack Smithson CRUDPC
• Bruce Wilson - EAPUOC
• John Dyck - CRUDPC
• Dale Wilson Alberta One-Call
• No spring chickens here!

10
DAMAGE PREVENTION CONSULTANTS

• Presentations
• Dispute resolution
• Meetings
• Trade shows
• Objectivity
• Credibility

11
NEW ORGANIZATIONS

• Common Ground Alliance
• Best practices
• Good Canadian participation
• Canadian Association of Pipeline and Utility
  Locating Contractors
• Competent, qualified Locator Technician
  definition
• Canadian Locator Technician Standards
• Locating industry recognized practices

12
NEW ORGANIZATIONS

• Ground Disturbance Stakeholders Committee
• Part of ADPC
• Responsible for content of Level I and Level II
  ground disturbance training programs

13
IDENTIFICATION OF STAKEHOLDERS

14
REGULATORY IMPROVEMENTS

• Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act,
  Regulation, Code and Explanation Guide
• Compatible with industry standard
• Regular revisions to maintain currency
• Alberta Pipeline Regulation
• Mandatory registration with Alberta One-Call
• Mandatory ground disturbance training
• NEB Damage Prevention Regulations
• Coming soon

15
DAMAGE PREVENTION LEGISLATION

• Multi-Stakeholder Damage Prevention Legislation
  Task Force
• Significant appetite for legislation
• Position paper presented to government
• Political support surfacing
• No finger pointing or mud slinging
• What is an issue for one stakeholder is usually
  an issue for others

16
INDUSTRY STANDARDS

• IRP 17 Ground Disturbance in the Vicinity of
  Buried Facilities
• Enform
• Upstream and midstream oil and gas activities
• ADPC application to be sponsor of record
• The Damage Prevention Process in Alberta
• ADPC
• Raises the bar
• Guidelines for Working Near Buried Facilities
• EAPUOC

17
LOCATOR CERTIFICATION

• Buried Facilities Locator
• Enform
• Currently limited to locating in advance of
  geophysical exploration programs
• Combination of technical and practical content
  both are tested
• Time in service required for certification
• Expandable through module approach with
  endorsements to include all types of buried
  facilities

18
TRAINING

• Ground Disturbance Training
• Increasing demand
• Good recognition of need for consistency of
  content
• All stakeholders involved in establishing content
• Level II is the standard for supervisory level
  content

19
ALBERTA ONE-CALL

• Began operations 01 October 1984
• Membership growth 12 ? gt475
• Locate requests processed 74,000 ? 390,000
• S annual change 8.66
• Notifications to members 193,600 ? 1,516,700
• S annual change 10.84
• Highly respected within one-call industry
• High credibility with all stakeholder groups
• Advertising budget (2006) gt495,000
• Much more than a communication service

20
STATISTICS

• City of Calgary (1983 1998)
• Damages 1,765 ? 765
• S annual change -5.42
• Locates performed 73,204 ? 187,110
• S annual change 6.46
• Damages per 1,000 locates performed 24.11 ? 4.09
• S annual change -11.15

21
WHAT DRIVES OUR SUCCESSES?

• No responsible member of the digging community
  wants to damage buried facilities
• No responsible buried facility operator wants
  those facilities damaged
• Damage prevention is a shared responsibility
• The need to demonstrate diligence
• The need to attain and measure competence

22
WHAT DRIVES OUR SUCCESSES?

• Cooperation and collaboration result in mutual
  benefits
• The exchange of accurate and timely information
  during the damage prevention process, together
  with a genuine interest by all stakeholders for a
  successful outcome, is critical
• The prevention of damage to buried facilities
  will have a positive impact on worker safety,
  public safety, protection of the environment and
  preservation of the integrity of the buried
  infrastructure essential to todays society

23
THE DAMAGE PREVENTION PROCESS IN ALBERTA

• Without a doubt the best in Canada
• The envy of many U.S.A. jurisdictions
• Not perfect may never be
• A work in progress

24
A THANKYOU FOR OUR SUCCESSES

• To every hoe operator who wont dig without
  locates
• To every homeowner who plans ahead
• To every locator who takes pride in her work
• To every facility operator that proactively
  protects its facilities
• To every regulatory inspector who strives to
  educate
• To every training organization that raises
  awareness

25
A THANKYOU FOR OUR SUCCESSES

• To those who have gone before us who had the
  foresight to plant the seeds of the damage
  prevention process as we know it today
• To each of you here today
• The significant improvements in our damage
  prevention process since 1979 are a result of
  compounding the effects of many little successes.
  Each small success is a step forward toward the
  ultimate goal of preventing damages to buried
  facilities.
• LETS KEEP IT UP!