The digging community includes anyone who engages in, or who is responsible for any activity that results in a disturbance of the earth regardless of depth including land clearing, earth moving, grading, excavating, trenching, digging, boring, drilling, or blasting.

Employers and employees share many of the same goals. Both want a working environment that is safe. Employee training supports a safer and more productive workplace, the kind of environment in which people want to work. Maintaining the highest level of safety benefits both employers and employees.

Ongoing regulatory efforts provide a framework to ensure ground disturbance activities near buried utilities are conducted safely. A buried utility may include telephone, cable TV, electric, water supply and natural gas pipelines. Preventing damage to a buried utility is a shared responsibility of everyone in the digging community. Damage prevention includes elements such as planning, the effective use of one-call centres, accurate and timely identification, locating and marking of buried facilities, adherence to safe and best ground disturbance practices, proper installation of buried facilities, consequences for non-compliance, public awareness and occupational safety training programs. The good news is that OH&S Ground Disturbance safety training is intended for all members of the digging community including but not limited to contractors, consultants, equipment operators, developers, home builders, landscapers, land surveyors and municipal works and parks department employees. We look forward to seeing you in the next ICC – Instructor Certification Course!