Learning Centre

FAQ

Home › Learning Centre › FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Damage Prevention Process

Information about the locate request software can be found HERE.

It is mandatory that the locations of all buried utilities be marked before a ground disturbance begins. This is required by the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Code, the Alberta Electrical Utility Code, the Canada Energy Regulator's Damage Prevention Regulations and the Alberta Pipeline Regulation. The best way to accomplish this is by requesting a locate through Utility Safety Partners.

Most, but not all, utility owners are registered with Utility Safety Partners.

Other sources of information on buried utilities that may be at the site of a proposed ground disturbance include:

  • Signs or markers in the area.
  • Alberta Energy Regulator (high-pressure pipeline records).
  • Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, Rural Utilities Branch (low pressure gas distribution pipeline records).
  • Land Titles Office (certificates of title) to determine if a right of way, easement or caveat is registered against the property.
  • Local landowners or occupants.
  • Visual evidence of cut lines, changes in vegetation, land depression or scarring, buildings or existing surface utilities.

If you are working on private property, you should make plans for locating privately owned and customer owned buried facilities. This is in addition to locating any utilities owned by Utility Safety Partners' members. It may be necessary for you or the property owner to hire a contract locator to identify and mark the locations of privately owned and customer owned buried utilities.

Most, but not all, utility owners have registered their lines with Utility Safety Partners. There may be utilities on your property that we are unaware of.

The utility owners and their locators are unable to mark:

  • Privately installed lines (e.g. power from your house to your garage).
  • Secondary lines (e.g. electrical lines past the meter).
  • Customer-owned utilities (e.g. water and sewer lines are the responsibility of the property owner past the shut-off valve at the property line).

The utility company does not own these lines and therefore does not have any information about their location. In some areas, some utility owners may charge to mark these lines.

Sources of information that may help you identify whether there are buried utilities at the site of a proposed ground disturbance include:

  • Considering what services you use and if those utilities have been notified by Utility Safety Partners (e.g. gas, power, water, phone, cable).
  • Land Titles: Check certificates of title to determine if a right of way, easement or caveat is registered against the property.
  • Local landowners or previous occupants.

There are several locate service providers in Alberta who can perform secondary utility locates for a fee. A list of some of these locate service providers can be found here.

If you require locates sooner than three full working days because your request was not placed in time, the utility owners and their locators will not likely be able to accommodate you any earlier than three full working days due to the volume of requests they are processing.

If you require locates sooner than three full working days to correct a condition that is causing or will cause a threat to life, health, property or the interruption of critical services (water, power, gas, communications) call 1-800-242-3447 to place an Emergency Request or Priority Request depending on how much lead time you can provide.

Emergency Request Timeline: Excavator and equipment must be on site to perform an emergency repair or be en route to arrive within 2 hours of placing the request. Notified utility owners will respond ASAP.

Priority Request Timeline: Excavator and equipment will be on site to perform an emergency repair at a time that is more than 2 hours but less than 3 business days from the time of placing the request. Notified utility owners will respond with locates or contact the excavator to arrange locates before the time the work is scheduled to begin.

No. Locators will mark your property when they are in the area and will leave documentation on site or email documentation to you to explain the markings.

Exceptions: You may be required to meet with the locators if there is restricted access to the yard or the meter (e.g. a locked gate), if there is a dog in the yard or if you live in a multiple unit dwelling.

You can make a note of your preference in the Remarks field on your locate request ticket. However, it is up to individual utility owners and their locators to accommodate these special requests subject to their own availability.

You can make edits to your existing ticket online by selecting the ticket from your History, selecting Actions, then Edit. This will cancel the original ticket and issue a new ticket number with the updated information.

You can also email us at [email protected] or call us at 1-800-242-3447. Be ready with your ticket number and new information to provide to the Damage Prevention Associate who answers.

White flags, stakes or paint may be used to provide the locators with an accurate understanding of the extent of the proposed ground disturbance. Paint marks on roadways should not exceed 40 mm x 450 mm, but should be close enough together to clearly define the limits of the site. In winter conditions, black or black and white markings are more appropriate colour choices.

In some cases, pre-marking the dig site may eliminate the need for you to meet with the locator and can result in locates being completed sooner than waiting for a scheduled meeting.

No. If a member of Utility Safety Partners has been notified of a locate request and has not contacted you after the required advance notice period has passed, or has failed to mark the locations of buried utilities you arranged, you can send a Reminder to the utility owner online. Login to your account and select "Positive Response". Check the box beside the name of the utility that has not responded, then click "Send Reminder". The utility owner or their locator will receive a message that you are still waiting for their response to that ticket.

Alternatively, you can contact us at [email protected] or 1-800-242-3447. We will remind the utility owner on your behalf. We can also escalate the reminder process if you have sent more than one Reminder and have not had a response in 24 hours since your last Reminder was sent.

If the utility operator is not registered with Utility Safety Partners, contact them directly.

As a rule, the operators of buried utilities do not charge for identifying and marking the locations of their buried utilities. However, should your schedule require that locates (excluding Emergency Locate requests) be done outside normal working hours, there may be a charge to cover the cost of overtime.

Excavators that abuse the Damage Prevention Process by placing frequent requests for locates where no ground disturbance is taking place, or is planned within the 30 day lifespan of locates, may incur charges from the operators of the buried utilities.

Most utility operators do charge for locating customer-owned utilities.

The locate documentation provided by the utility owners or their locators indicates when the locate expires. If ground disturbance will continue past the expiry date, you should request a relocate ticket.

To request a relocate ticket, select the ticket from your History, then select "Actions", then "Relocate". The relocate ticket will reference the original ticket so the utility owners or their locators can respond accordingly.

Check out the Damage Prevention Process in Alberta document for more detailed information about the lifespan of locates.

No. If the ground disturbance is to take place within a public road allowance, provincial highway right-of-way or utility right-of-way, the ground disturber may be required to obtain an excavation permit or written permission from the utility owners before disturbing the ground. If the ground disturbance is to install new utilities, line assignments may have to be obtained from the authority having jurisdiction over the right-of-way, prior to construction.

Contact the customer service department of your service provider. To avoid confusion, requested to have these items MOVED not relocated.

Visit our Learning Centre for more information.

ALP Program

An overview of the ALP Program can be found HERE.

The ALP Program is not mandatory. You choose if you want to use the ALP option or submit a traditional locate request. When the ALP option is chosen, excavators must select a registered ALSP from the USP website to locate and mark buried utilities whereas Telus' locate policy, launched April 2024, requires commercial excavators to hire any locator at their discretion.

When the ALP option is not selected, the locating and marking process remains the same as it has always been: participating ALP members respond according to their own internal processes (providing a clearance, dispatching a locator, etc.) and also bear the associated costs.

Additional information about Telus' policy can be found here.

The ALP Program is operated by a consortium of infrastructure owners to provide an alternative option for obtaining locates of their assets. Not all USP members are participating in the program in all regions. The list of participating members is found here.

USP's role:

  • Provide ticket processing capabilities for its members in line with the ALP requirements.
  • Provide general information about the ALP Program to excavators and locators
  • Ensure a current list of registered Alternate Locate Service Providers (ALSPs) is available on its website.

Any project owner or locate requester may use the ALP option to receive locates for any routine ticket as long as they adhere to the conditions of the ALP Program.

The project owner / ticket requester is required to compensate the Alternate Locate Service Provider (ALSP) directly as per the ALSP's rates. Since payment for services is between the requester and the ALSP, a contract may be required between the parties depending on each business and situation.

The ALP Program intends to provide an additional option to receive locates. Public locate delivery is measured against strict delivery metrics and it is expected that Locate Service Providers (LSPs) continue to uphold commitments to this standard of delivery. Similar models to ALP have been deployed in other provinces and countries with success and all indications show that the addition of this service compliments and enables a more robust public locate delivery.

The goal of the ALP Program is to provide this option across the province; however, the list of participating owners depends entirely on the impacted members and their continued involvement in the program. There is no current requirement for non-participating members to participate in the ALP. The list of participating members is found here.

Submit your request via standard procedures and select "YES" in the Alternate Locate Provider Option box. Once the ALP request is submitted, participating infrastructure owners will remove the request from their standard request-response process. The requester is then responsible for arranging locates for those members' assets with an approved Alternate Locate Service Provider (ALSP). Please note that emergency locate requests are not part of the ALP Process.

Watch a short video about how to select the ALP Option when requesting a locate.

In the situation where some notified asset owners are participating in the ALP Program and others have chosen not to, non-participating members will respond to the locate request using standard procedures.

The ticket must be cancelled and resubmitted as a new locate request.

A listing of all registered Alternate Locate Service Providers (ALSPs) can be found here. Please note this list is subject to change at any time by the consortium of infrastructure owners that maintain the master list.

Any company can go through the ALP assessment process to be registered as an ALSP. The requester would need to demonstrate the ability to perform locates and satisfy all safety, quality, and technical requirements as determined by the consortium of infrastructure owners. Registration approval is not guaranteed. More details on the ALSP assessment process can be found here.

The ALP Program is operated by a consortium of infrastructure owners so a decision about who can participate is made between the consortium and interested infrastructure owners. Additional information can be found here. Send a request to participate in the ALP to [email protected] and USP will put you in contact with a consortium representative.

The Alternate Locate Service Provider (ALSP) registration process is open to any locate service provider, contractor, or employer who wishes to participate and meets the minimum registration requirements. Your company will be assessed against standard registration assessment criteria operated by a consortium of infrastructure owners. While any company can request registration, there is no guarantee that you will be approved for registration. Prior to requesting assessment, it is recommended that you review the ALSP Preparation Guide and also review your capabilities against the assessment criteria.

Registration will continue for an ALSP unless non-conformance to the ALP requirements occurs. Examples include, but are not limited to, safety incidents, damages, quality concerns, or other business changes that impact registration. Audits of ALSP performance and/or registration alignment may occur at any time. Registration is at the sole discretion of the consortium of infrastructure owners that oversees the ALP.

Any approved training provider may provide course delivery for the mandatory Locate and Marking course. As such, an ALSP can request access to the training standard and submit their program for audit by the USP Training Standards Committee audit team. This would allow their certified trainers to deliver course material against the standard and register locators. More details can be found here.

In addition to Alternate Locate Service Providers (ALSPs) being registered to provide ALP locates, individual locators working for ALSPs are also required to be registered for ALP participation. Registration involves 2 components:

  1. Successful completion of the new industry Locate and Marking course from an endorsed training provider.
  2. Employer assessment of the locator that confirms the locator meets the minimum requirements of ALP.

It was determined that implementing a low-burden and consistent registration process would ensure the ALP Program maintains high quality, transparency, and formalization for all stakeholders. The assessment relies heavily on the ALSP or employer's pre-existing training and competency review process.

Details of the individual locator assessment criteria can be found here.

The following organizations are endorsed to provide Locate and Marking Standard training:

ALSP registration assessments rely entirely on the employer's ability to train and manage locator competency. As such, competency is outside of the scope of the ALP Program, which provides a standardized framework to allow registration and participation in ALP locates.

#clickbeforeyoudig

Request a locate