Page 78 - CCGA Best Practices Version English

6-4: Incentives

Practice Statement: Damage prevention programs include incentives to
promote compliance with laws, regulations and best practices.
Practice Description: Incentives can include, but are not limited to, ease
of access to notification service system, notification service membership and
participation considerations, representation on notification service boards,
reasonable enforcement of regulations, safety and liability protection,
preferred access to contract designers and contractors for bidding, and
insurance and overall cost benefits.

Safety and Liability Protection: Demonstrated adherence to the Best
Practices will provide increased safety and liability protection for all industry
members.
• Preferred Access to Design and Administration Consultants: To provide
incentive to consultants who demonstrate compliance to Best Practices,
it is recommended that Municipalities and others who employ design and
Administration Consultants ensure they build a process into their contract
awarding process which accomplishes this.
This Process may include such items as:
• Appropriate use of SUE
• Appropriate use of pre-engineering process encompassing notification of
Utilities, drawing circulation and tender document inclusions
• Vetting contractors through a preferred access process
• Inclusion of appropriate contract language that recognizes the CCGCA’s
Best Practices and requests compliance
• They will also ensure that their contracts include incentives and/or
penalties regarding performance requirements.
• Preferred Access to Contract Bidding: To provide incentive to excavators
to demonstrate compliance to Best Practices, it is recommended that
Municipalities and others who hire excavation contractors ensure they
build a process into their contract awarding process which accomplishes
this. They will also ensure that their contracts include incentives and/or
penalties regarding performance requirements.
• Insurance Benefits: To provide incentive to follow best practices, it
is recommended that the insurance companies develop a system
which allows them to provide financial incentives to companies with a
demonstrated positive safety culture.
• Reasonable Enforcement of Regulations: Reasonable enforcement of
regulations refers to actions by enforcement authority officials and
enforcement processes, both of which aim to fairly arrive at rational
outcomes, such as education and penalties that correspond to the gravity
of the violation and demonstrated safety culture, without imposing
unnecessarily high transaction costs on any participant, including the
enforcement authority.
• Cost Benefits: best practices are always thought to be the best alternative
and as such have an inherent cost benefit

Canadian Common Ground Alliance
Best Practices Version 3.0 – October 2018
70