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Q4 - 2023 UNDERGROUND NETWORK

Another year has come and gone for the SCGA.

On Tuesday, November 28 more than 40 folks gathered at the Italian Club in Regina for the SCGA's Annual General Meeting.

Highlights:

Kelly Erhardt the Executive Director of Central Line Contractors Association shared a safety moment;

We acknowledged 8 new members in 2023:

Sask Water
Strictly Fences Ltd.
On the Mark Locating Services
K + S Potash Canada
City of Estevan
Danatec
Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association
Axis Vac and HDD Services Ltd.

There will be no change to Member Fees and Sponsorship Levels;

Committee engagement remains strong, there are 40+ volunteers for this not for profit organization.

SCGA Board of Director changes:

Rob Musselman replaces Jared Etcheverry from TC Energy;
Myron Kopec, Director Division 4 with SARM replaced Derrick Bigeagle

SCGA Officers confirmed:

Derrick Mann - SaskEnergy - President
Norman Krogstad - SaskTel - Vice-President
Ryan Jacobson - Saskatchewan Safety Council - Secretary-Treasurer

New CEO of the Heavy Construction Safety Association of Saskatchewan Triphina Worth was our Guest Speaker.

Past News – SCGA

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About SCGA

UPDATE FROM LISA KOSOLOFSKI, DIRECTOR OF SASK 1ST CALL

Hello, and thank you for your support through 2023!

My name is Lisa Kosolofski and I am the new Director of

Sask 1^st Call.

As we look back on the year that was and prepare for the upcoming 2024 digging season, I'd like to share a few highlights with you and some exciting plans we have for the digging community this coming year.

2023 Highlights:

Perhaps the biggest change since incorporation in 2003,

Sask 1^st Call began a new chapter in June when — after two decades of running the service — SaskEnergy transferred ownership to the Saskatchewan Common Ground Alliance (SCGA).

Sask 1^st Call is now a non profit corporation with a separate Board of Directors governed by volunteers from industry, of which SaskEnergy, SaskPower and SaskTel each have a permanent Board seat. The transition of Sask 1^st Call from SaskEnergy to SCGA was seamless, with minimal disruption to subscribers, locate requestors, and the Saskatchewan public.

A diverse Board of Directors from a variety of sectors was formed and met for the first time in September.

The Sask 1^st Call Board of Directors and Officers are:

James Cameron, Crescent Point Energy, Calgary - President

Shawn Fairman, SaskEnergy, Regina - Vice-President

Bryan Abel, BH Telecom/Flex Networks, Kitchener - Secretary-Treasurer

Kyle Schmalenberg, SaskTel, Regina

Kevin Lalonde, SaskPower - Saskatoon

Jodi Long, Kingston Midstream - Estevan

Kim Brady, Whitecap Resources - Weyburn

Jennifer Wilkinson, City of Weyburn - Weyburn

Another highlight of 2023 was the change to locate expiration, extending the expiry date from 10 business days to 30 calendar days. This change aligns Saskatchewan with other provinces and jurisdictions that already had a 30-day window for line locates. For more details, click here.

While this change has been well received, it makes it more important than ever to ensure you are properly utilizing the "Job Start Date" when submitting a locate request through

Sask 1^st Call.

Selecting the appropriate date will help ensure that your locate is done in a timely manner, as close to the date you will begin ground disturbance as possible. This will greatly reduce the potential that the locate materials could be removed or tampered with. Just a reminder, not everyone is a subscriber to Sask 1^st Call. It is up to the excavator to find and contact those unregistered facilities by contacting owners through land titles, municipalities, cities and towns.

Our online usage continues to slowly increase. This year, 73.09% of Sask 1^st Call locate requests were places using the online platform (an increase of 1.09% from 2022). By continuing to educate users and promote the "Click Before You Dig" message, we will see these numbers rise, keeping operating costs down. It's important to note that submitting a request online (versus phoning in the request) has shown to improve the accuracy of your locate, particularly when it comes to mapping.

In 2023, Sask 1^st Call welcomed eight new subscribers, ending the year with 124 active subscribing companies. The importance of mapping and protecting underground facilities continues to grow and we are excited to reach more potential subscribers in 2024.

2024 Initiatives:

We have already started the year with a bang! A major software update to the Sask 1^st Call locate site was rolled out on January 24, 2024 and brings with it many improvements, including updated mapping, a responsive and more mobile-friendly site, and a new and improved dashboard. For more details on these changes, click here.

As we gear up for the 2024 digging season, the promotion of

Sask 1^st Call services and Click Before you Dig messages is a top priority.

Sask 1^st Call encourages subscribing companies to plan to attend a free SCGA Dig Safe Awareness Breakfast in a community near you. We will see you there!

Sask 1st Call contact information:

Member data updates, tickets inquiries, notification changes, etc

Email [email protected]

Phone 1-866-828-4888 option 3

Invoicing Inquiries

Email [email protected]

All other inquiries

Email [email protected]

Sask 1st Call 2023 Activity Report

The SCGA and Sask 1^st Call want to thank the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Water Pipelines for inviting us to speak at their December meeting.

Watch for SCGA and Sask 1st Call in the Community 2024:

Saskatchewan Safety Council – Saskatchewan Safety Seminar – February 7 – 9 - Saskatoon
SARM – March 13 & 14 - Regina
SUMA – April 14 – 17 – Regina
Work Safe Grade 9 Try a Career - May 14 - May 16 - Balgonie

The Canadian Common Ground Alliance is requesting papers for the following topics but encourage papers on any topic relevant to damage prevention in your industry.

Abroad
Agriculture and digging
Cases study
Communications
Excavation work methods
Excavator's reality
First Nations
Legislation, Rules, Standards
Locator resources
Mapping
Municipality's reality
Planning, Engineer's reality
Railroads
Technology

Submit now

Dig Safe Breakfasts are coming to a community near you in 2024.

Stay tuned to social media for details and registration to be released soon!

Interested in sponsoring the breakfast program – great opportunity to enhance your dig safe commitment. Contact

[email protected] for more info!

At the SCGA we often hear "what can I share at a safety meeting" or “what is a good topic to discuss during our tailgate meetings”?

The SCGA has a number of made in Saskatchewan videos prepared for anyone’s use, why not check out the SCGA - YouTube channel and choose a playlist! There is great content for any safety related meetings.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

PLATINUM

GOLD

SILVER

Want to find out more about becoming a sponsor or a member contact [email protected]!

Interested in becoming a member of the SCGA click here!

About the SCGA.....

The Saskatchewan Common Ground Alliance (SCGA) is a member driven, non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring worker and public safety, environmental protection and the integrity of services. Started in 2007. We have 95 members who share the SCGA's goals to promote effective damage prevention best practices and to ensure the safety of those who work or live in the vicinity of underground and overhead facilities. Protecting our vital services is everyone’s responsibility.

The SCGA is one of 7 regions of the Canadian Common Ground Alliance – other regions include British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. We utilize national branding (Dig Safe and Click Before You Dig) for damage prevention and integrate it in SCGA communication and promote to stakeholders.

See our current members listing here.