NEWS

The CCGA has released the 2014 DIRT Report for the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. This aggregate report, providing data relative to reported damages, is focused on determining root causes that will in turn allow Regional Partners of the Common Ground Alliance in Canada and their members to target public education and awareness programs to reduce damages and provide greater security and safety to Canadians.

National Report 2012-13-14 english Final.pdf

The CCGA proudly welcomes CAEPLA to the CCGA Board of Directors! 

Representing the safety interests of transmission pipeline landowners across Canada, CAEPLA's involvement on the CCGA Board will help to ensure there is active landowner engagement on national damage prevention initiatives such as the ongoing development of the CCGA's Best Practices; and, the promotion, use and simplified access to the damage prevention process.

"Up until now", explains Dr. Dave Baspaly, Chair of the CCGA, "the landowner's damage prevention perspective has not been individually represented on the CCGA Board of Directors - and that was a problem. To respond, we specifically made room within our governance to accommodate the landowner demographic on our Board." 

Mike Sullivan, CCGA Executive Director, continued, "The Common Ground Alliance is about inclusion. With every like-minded Association we engage, the closer we get to realizing our commonly shared objectives of public, worker and community safety; and, the prevention of damage to Canada's critical buried infrastructure."

The CCGA's next Board of Directors meeting is scheduled October 6th in Montreal and will coincide with the CCGA's 3rd Annual CCGA Damage Prevention Symposium.

As part of the CCGA's ongoing efforts to expand our damage prevention "reach", we are honoured to welcome The Railway Association of Canada to the CCGA Board of Directors!

Canada's railways employ more than 33,000 people and support an additional 60,000 direct and indirect jobs in the railway supply industry. 

With the addition of the Railway Association of Canada to the Board, the CCGA's estimated reach is 1.5 million Canadians!

CSA Z247 was published today and is available for purchase HERE. French Translation will begin shortly with publication later this summer.

CSA Z247 is the first Damage Prevention Standard in Canada. It articulates the damage prevention process and elements that when consistently applied will reduce damages to Canada's underground infrastructure enhancing public, worker and community safety, preserving the environment and ultimately, saving lives.

The CCGA wishes to acknowledge CSA Z247's sponsors - the National Energy Board, Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association and the Canadian Gas Association. Without their involvement from concept to completion, this Standard would not have been realized.

Mike Sullivan

Chair - CSA Z247

Executive Director - CCGA

On December 16, 2014, Senator Grant Mitchell delivered this speech in the Senate commending the report and recommendations to all Senators.

It was moved by the Honourable Senator Neufeld, seconded by the Honourable Senator Mitchell, that the ninth report of the standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources, entitled Digging Safely: One-Call Notification Systems and the Prevention of Damage to Canada's Buried Infrastructure, tabled in the Senate on December 3, 2014, be adopted by the Senate.

The motion was agreed and the report was adopted.

The CCGA released an update today to its 2013 Report on Damage to Underground Infrastructure. The updated information includes damages per 1,000 notifications as well as damages per 1,000 locates.

The Standing Senate Committee on Energy the Environment and Natural Resources released its report today on One-Call Services and Damage Prevention Best Practices. The report, entitled Digging Safely: One Call Notification Systems and the Prevention of Damage to Canada's Critical Buried Infrastructure includes the following four recommendations:

LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS 

1. That the federal government reference the CSA Z247 standard for protection and prevention of damage to buried infrastructure in relevant federal legislation and encourage provinces and territories to reference the standard in legislation.

2. That buried facilities on federal land be registered with a provincial or territorial one-call service; and that the federal government require anyone undertaking construction or excavation on federal land to call a one-call service, where one exists.

3. That the federal government require all owners of federally regulated buried infrastructure to become members of a provincial or territorial one-call service, where one exists.

4. That the federal government introduce a conditional provincial/territorial grant dependent on the adoption of legislation requiring the mandatory participation of all owners and/or operators of underground facilities and excavators in a prescribed one-call service. The grant would be available to assist one-call centres with training, innovation, education and public awareness.

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Le Comité sénatorial permanent de l'énergie, de l'environnement et des ressources naturelles a rendu public son rapport sur les services de centre d'appels à numéro unique et les bonnes pratiques en matière de prévention de dommages. Le rapport intitulé, Creuser en toute sécurité, fait état des éléments suivants : ce rapport sur les centres d'appels à numéro unique et la prévention de dommages aux infrastructures souterraines au Canada comprend les quatre recommandations suivantes :

LISTE DE RECOMMANDATIONS

1. Que le gouvernement fédéral ajoute une référence à la norme CSA Z247 pour la protection des infrastructures souterraines et la prévention des dégâts à celles-ci dans les lois fédérales pertinentes et encourage les provinces et les territoires à ajouter une référence à la norme dans leurs lois.

2. Que les infrastructures souterraines se trouvant sur les terres fédérales soient enregistrées auprès d’un centre d’appels uniques provincial ou territorial; et que le gouvernement fédéral oblige toute personne entreprenant des travaux de construction ou d’excavation sur une terre fédérale à communiquer avec un centre d’appels uniques, sur les territoires où ce type de service existe.

3. Que le gouvernement fédéral oblige tous les propriétaires d’infrastructures souterraines visées par la réglementation fédérale à adhérer à un centre d’appels uniques provincial ou territorial, sur les territoires où ce type de service existe.

4. Que le gouvernement fédéral offre une subvention provinciale/territoriale conditionnelle à l’adoption d’une loi exigeant la participation de tous les propriétaires et/ou les exploitants d’infrastructures souterraines et des excavateurs à un centre d’appels uniques déterminé. La subvention appuierait les activités des centres d’appels uniques liées à la formation, à l’innovation et à la sensibilisation.

The CCGA released the 2013 National Report on Damage to Underground Infrastructure at the 2014 CCGA Damage Prevention Symposium. The analysis is a compendium and comparative analysis of 2013 DIRT data results from Québec, Ontario and British Columbia; representing roughly 75% of the Canadian population.

The report also includes limited data from Alberta. While it is unlikely that Alberta data reflects actual damages in the province, the CCGA chose to provide Alberta data for information purposes only. 

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Le CCGA a rendu public, lors du symposium 2014 du CCGA sur la prévention des dommages, le Rapport national en matière de dommages aux infrastructures souterraines pour l'année 2013. L'analyse est un recueil des résultats de données du DIRT de l'année 2013 et une analyse comparative de celles-ci pour les provinces du Québec, de l'Ontario et de la Colombie-Britannique. Ces provinces représentent 75 % de la population canadienne.

Des données restreintes provenant de la province de l'Alberta sont également incluses dans ce rapport. Bien qu'il soit peu probable que ces dernières reflètent les dommages réels survenus dans cette province, le CCGA a choisi de les inclure à titre d'information seulement. 

The CCGA is pleased to announce completion of the CCGA Best Practice Harmonization Project and release of The CCGA Best Practices - Volume 1.0! The CCGA unveiled Volume 1.0 at the 2014 Damage Prevention Symposium in Banff, Alberta October 29, 2014.

Best Practice Volume 1.0 (English) is available HERE for download (PDF). French translation is underway and will be posted to the CCGA News and social media feeds when completed. The CCGA will provide advance notice when new versions of the Best Practices are to be released.

To order printed copies of The CCGA Best Practices Volume 1.0, please email info@canadiancga.com. Cost per book is $10.00 CDN and includes shipping and handling.

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The Common Ground Alliance released the 2013 DIRT Report earlier this week. As reported by CGA President, Bob Kipp, "There is plenty of encouraging news in this report, starting with the finding that damages are down by approximately 5% compared to last year. With incoming tickets up 8% year over year and construction spending also up, this is a very encouraging statistic."

Although the 2013 DIRT Report offers data that is relevant to Canadian operations, governance and legislative differences between Canada and the United States present a challenge to fully integrate the report's findings into the complete spectrum of Canada's damage prevention initiatives. In that context, the CCGA is developing a comparison between the 2013 DIRT Report's findings relative to the CCGA's 2013 National Report on Damage to Buried Infrastructure and will post here at a later date.