Call (or click) before you dig

Tundra Oil & Gas is raising public awareness of underground safety hazards

Safety plays a big role in everything Tundra does, and communicating with stakeholders proactively supports the safety and wellbeing of the communities where its employees live and work.

As part of this ongoing dialogue, the company is rolling out another spring campaign to raise public awareness of the dangers presented by underground hazards and what stakeholders can do to safely work around them. This effort is also repeated every fall and includes local newspaper and radio ads.

“Whether conducting oilfield or farming operations, digging a flower bed or a fence line, it is essential that everyone knows what is directly below them before they begin any activity that disturbs the ground,” says Charlie Flannery, QA/QC Technician with Tundra’s Operations Engineering and Maintenance Department.

He explains that Tundra has assets across southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba, including an extensive network of approximately 5,500 kilometres of active, suspended, or abandoned flowline pipe used to transport emulsion, oil, gas, water and CO2. This network also includes over 1,500 kilometres of electrical line.

“That’s why, to ensure the safety of everyone working at or around our facilities, we recommend people contact Click Before You Dig Manitoba or Saskatchewan

1st Call before starting any project that involves ground disturbance,” Flannery says. This service provides underground asset (also known as “buried facilities”) screening and notification for safe excavation to any party intending to disturb the ground.

“When a call or click does not occur before these activities begin, potentially serious incidents – or worse, line strikes – are more likely to occur, with the most serious consequences being potential loss of life, injury, or environmental impacts.”

Site Visits And Locate Services Work In Conjunction

Between Manitoba and Saskatchewan Common Ground Alliances’ click/call programs, Tundra logged 414 service tickets in 2022. Of these, 90 per cent required at least one site visit, which can involve a variety of disciplines and protective measures depending on each unique case.

Members of Tundra’s Click/Call Before You Dig (CBYD) team are expected to respond to a standard ticket within three working days, but requests typically receive a response within 24 hours of receiving them. In the case of an emergency locate, requests in rural areas are immediately promoted to a two-hour response, or one hour if the call is within an urban area.

“During a site visit, Tundra will confirm the proposed work area, identify potential mapping errors or omissions, highlight safety hazards and potential mitigation, as well as look for any evidence of recent ground disturbance in the vicinity,” Flannery says.

“In addition, we will identify any ground condition concerns, determine whether hydro-vac services are required, and outline any upcoming company activities such as drilling, lease construction or a rig move that might impact the proposed ground disturbance work.”

In conjunction with a site visit, underground utility locate services will be onsite to find, paint and/or stake any Tundraowned assets near the proposed work area. To do this, maps and historical records are reviewed, and the site is assessed for potential safety hazards.

EDUCATION, AWARENESS KEY TO PREVENTING THIRD-PARTY LINE STRIKES

Once locate services are completed, the stakeholder will be provided with a site drawing which outlines the underground facilities along with evidence of any other potential hazards, and documentation outlining Tundra’s requirements and policies. Prior to work commencing, Tundra will meet with the stakeholder once again to ensure that the scope is unchanged and the location markings are still visible.

Tundra’s Operations personnel are notified of the proposed project to ensure all parties working in the area are made aware of planned activities. If the work to be undertaken is located on – or especially close to a buried facility – Tundra will supervise the work to ensure its assets are protected.

Tundra’s Operations Department and aerial surveillance play large roles in the detection and notification of any alleged ground disturbance activities that may be outside the CBYD process. These important functions can prevent a potentially serious incident or a line strike should a potentially serious incident have already occurred by the time it has been discovered.

Click/Call Before You Dig (CBYD) utility locate services are free, convenient and effective to use. While all stakeholders share responsibility for preventing damage to buried facilities, it is the primary responsibility of the party proposing the ground disturbance project to use CBYD services to determine if facilities are present underground before any activity takes place.

Utilizing a CBYD service will notify Tundra directly, ensuring they can support the safe execution of the proposed work while protecting their assets. This exchange of accurate and timely information during the CBYD process, together with a genuine interest by all stakeholders for a successful outcome, is essential to protecting people and land.

“We try to take every step possible to safeguard anyone planning to conduct activity in close proximity to Tundra’s assets,” Flannery says. “It also helps us to meet our goal of zero third-party line strikes, a goal we have met successfully every year since we began tracking this data in 2018.”

Continued education, awareness, and frequent promotion of CBYD is also key to preventing third-party line strikes, which is why Tundra ensures stakeholders receive important safety messaging as part of routine interactions with company representatives. Direct emails and promotional materials about the CBYD process are delivered to members of the community, supported by reminders in the newspaper or heard on the radio while commuting to and from work, the field, the grocery store, or the local ice rink.

“The goal is simple but is of critical importance: to raise the awareness of underground infrastructure, and the teamwork process to work safely around it.” v