With the new construction season coming soon, Sally Cain wants everyone to dig safe.
This is why the SCGA are once again hosting 23 breakfast events across the province in April to promote Sask 1st Call’s call before you dig program. Humboldt’s took place on April 10.
Cain, the Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Common Ground Alliance (SCGA) says that 43 per cent of accidents that happen in the digging industry are from people who do not get lines located. Accidents where diggers are connecting with underground lines are totalling in the billions of dollars across Canada but that is just what is reported, says Cain.
In 2017, 144,855 calls were made for a line locate, according to Erin Rodger with Sask 1st Call, which is up 11 per cent from 2016.
Even homeowners digging in their backyard should call for a land locate before starting projects because some lines can be inches from the surface, says Cain.
“Over time, lines move and our ground is not solid, it moves with the weather with the different seasons. A line that could of been three feet deep ten years ago could be 12 inches deep now.”
Even someone sticking a shovel in the ground should be having lines located, says Cain.
Anyone calling to request a line locate should give themselves two business days for their lines to be located before starting their digging project. Line locations are valid for 10 days.
This could include anything from large scale excavation projects to building a backyard fence, says Cain.
