Who is responsible for the location of private utility lines?
The Ontario Health & Safety Act regulates excavation projects in Ontario, and mandates the following:
PRECAUTIONS CONCERNING SERVICES
228. (1) Before an excavation is begun,
(a) gas, electrical and other services in and near the area to be excavated shall be accurately located and marked; and
(b) if a service may pose a hazard, the service shall be shut off and disconnected. O. Reg. 213/91, s. 228 (1).
(2) The employer who is responsible for the excavation shall request the owner of the service to locate and mark the
service. O. Reg. 213/91, s. 228 (2).
(3) If a service may pose a hazard and cannot be shut off or disconnected, the owner of the service shall be requested to supervise the uncovering of the service during the excavation. O. Reg. 213/91, s. 228 (3).
(4) Pipes, conduits and cables for gas, electrical and other services in an excavation shall be supported to prevent their failure or breakage. O. Reg. 213/91, s. 228 (4).
Accordingly, the owner of the service line is required to provide the excavator with information concerning the location of the buried utility.
In the case of privately-owned utility lines, this would usually be the property owner. However, given that property owners may not have the required information, or the ability to provide it, a private utility locator must be hired to facilitate this. This can by done by the property owner, or by the excavator, on the owner’s behalf.
The private utility locator works on behalf of the property/utility owner to ensure accurate location of the buried facilities. Records of these services are a distinct asset to this locator’s job, and the lack of records is a hindrance. Therefore, private locators provide the locates based on the best information available to them, following standard locate practices and procedures, but may not be complete or comprehensive in the detection and location of all lines. It remains the property/utility owners' responsibility to provide this information.
Contact Kevin Doyle, Frontier Utility Locating
(905) 548-7643
Utility Locates & Subsurface Mapping in Ontario, Canada
