Excavating around underground utilities requires competent and well-trained equipment operators, a spotter, and most importantly, locations. Here are some helpful tips from licensed drainage layer and equipment operators to help you stay safe and efficient while looking for utilities.
Guide to safe procedures:
1) Call “Ontario One Call” and wait 7 days for the locations to be completed.
Always remember that buried services such as swimming pool, barbecue, irrigation and lighting that are installed privately are not included. Natural Gas and Hydro locates the finish at the meter.
2) Exposing existing utilities in the work area should be done with great care and vacuum excavation is preferred whenever possible. This will reduce the risk of any damage occurring due to unexpected contact between the excavation equipment and the buried plant. If machine excavation is required, it must be accompanied by manual excavation. Any excavation work within 1 meter on either side of a location mark is considered within the legal location and will require hand digging.
3) Whenever possible, it is proposed to accompany the locating technician and obtain in-depth readings on the utilities that are in the work areas. Removal of the soil above the buried floor should be done in layers until the utility is found by digging by hand and verified with the completed location. By removing soil in 6″ deep layers, both hand and machine digging can be used. First, the worker’s hand digs a shovel-width trench 6″ deep over the legal location area and ensures that there is no plant. The machine operator then carefully excavates to this depth over an area large enough for the worker to enter and repeat the manual excavation to another 6-inch shelf depth. This process is repeated until the plant is safely exposed and this process is repeated until the entire buried plant has been exposed to daylight.
4) When using a mini excavator or midi to help expose underground utilities, it can be very advantageous to have the operator’s door fully open and secured and position the rotating tower at 90 degrees. This method of operation is particularly useful when in a confined space or where two trenches join and the operator’s lines of sight into the trench are greatly reduced.
With these helpful tips, you can safely and efficiently research utilities and get the job done. As always, if you have any questions about the equipment to be used on these types of projects, please don’t hesitate to contact our team of skilled personnel ready to assist you with all of your landscape project needs. /construction!
