Ontario s One-Call-to-Dig System Targeted Stakeholder Outreach - Summary of Discussions

Transcription

1 Ministry of Government and Consumer Services Consumer Protection Ontario Public Safety Branch Ontario s One-Call-to-Dig System Targeted Stakeholder Outreach - Summary of Discussions Executive Summary Released April 10, 2017 Between July and October 2016, the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services Public Safety Branch conducted targeted stakeholder outreach to assess the effectiveness of the province s mandatory one-call-to-dig system. This was undertaken in response to concerns from excavators that timely locate delivery continued to be an issue. The ministry s goal was to gather information on the impacts of the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, 2012 (the Act ) and its regulation on excavation activities in Ontario. The outreach was focused on the following key objectives behind the legislation: Timely delivery of locates by members to excavators. Improving the efficiency of the excavation process. Reducing damage to underground infrastructure. Key Findings Timely locate delivery is critical to the province s construction activities. However, contributing factors to timely locate delivery are multiple and complex with many interdependencies in the system. While Ontario One Call has a key role to play, responsibilities to support the province s digging activities is a shared effort involving many different sectors. The ministry heard that late locates are a problem in only parts of the province, particularly in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) where construction activity is high. While Ontario One Call s

2 operations were not seen as the primary cause for late locates, certain areas were identified where operational improvements by Ontario One Call can be made to address system problems. The ministry also heard that Ontario One Call is generally seen as providing an efficient call centre service. Some operational improvements were suggested that would further support digging activities in the province. Next Steps The ministry has shared the operational suggestions received from stakeholders with Ontario One Call for its consideration and has asked for a report back on how the organization could implement improvements where appropriate. Based on preliminary review, Ontario One Call is supportive of many of the suggestions and has indicated that some operational improvements are already underway. The ministry will continue to work with Ontario One Call to collect data from the 2017 digging season to assess the need for further action. Context The Act was a private member s bill which became law in June The ministry developed a regulation to support the implementation of the Act, which came into effect in March The Act created a single call centre to facilitate the location of underground infrastructure for use by individuals digging in the province (e.g., excavators, homeowners). By doing so, the Act aimed to improve the efficiency of the excavation processes and prevent damage to buried infrastructure. Ontario One Call now serves as the single point-of-contact for all utility locate requests 1. All persons or entities that own or operate underground infrastructure including municipalities and utilities (electrical, gas and oil, telecommunication) must be members of Ontario One Call and register the location of their underground infrastructure. Ontario One Call s Function Ontario One Call is an independent statutory not-for-profit corporation governed by a representative board consisting of thirteen directors who represent infrastructure owners and 1 Locate is defined as markings on the ground made by the owner or operator of underground infrastructure indicating the location of its underground infrastructure; and providing to the excavator a written document containing information respecting the location of the underground infrastructure. Source: Ontario One Call Ontario One Call By-law No.2. Available: Ontario One Call By-law No.2 (Accessed January 11, 2017) Consumer Protection Ontario Public Safety Branch Page 2

3 two directors who represent the excavation community for a total of fifteen directors. Its core activities include: 1. The operation of a call centre to route locate requests from excavators to infrastructure owners (i.e., Ontario One Call s members). 2. Raising public awareness of Ontario One Call and the need to practice safe digging. 3. Compliance role to monitor that locates are delivered to excavators by members in a timely way. Ontario One Call receives almost one million excavator requests per year for location information from individuals digging in the vicinity of infrastructure that is buried in the public right of way or on private property. Ontario One Call s call centre routes these requests to its members. Under the Act, members must make all reasonable attempts to provide excavators with locate information within five business days subject to some exceptions (i.e., if there is a reasonable expectation that the excavation or dig will not start within 30 business days or if the member and the excavator agree to a different time limit). Ontario One Call s public education mandate increases awareness of safe digging practices in the province. By promoting Call Before You Dig messages, Ontario One Call helps protect worker and public safety and prevents damage to underground infrastructure. Outreach Process and Approach Between July and October 2016, the ministry reached out to stakeholders to assess the effectiveness of the province s mandatory one-call-to-dig system. The ministry heard from 20 stakeholders and industry associations. These stakeholders were identified based either on their previous participation in consultations during the development of the regulation or because of their extensive involvement in Ontario s excavation industry. Efforts were made to balance the representation of excavators, infrastructure owners, locate service providers, and other regulators. While Ontario One Call staff were aware of the outreach process and its purpose, they did not take part in the exercise directly. Meetings were held with the following groups: Municipalities Excavators Electrical, telecommunication, and gas and oil utilities Locate service providers Damage prevention regulator Industry associations (represented over 3,000 individual companies combined) Questions were developed to assess the impact of the Act based on the three key objectives behind the legislation, which were: Timely delivery of locates by members to excavators. Consumer Protection Ontario Public Safety Branch Page 3

4 Improving the efficiency of the excavation process. Reducing damage to underground infrastructure. In addition, the ministry invited stakeholders to share other relevant observations. See Appendix A for a list of the questions that guided these meetings. The following is a summary of what the ministry heard during these discussions. Timely Delivery of Locates Participants were forthcoming about describing their working conditions around providing and requesting locates. They identified some environmental causes that contribute to the timeliness of locate delivery in Ontario. These included: Short construction season combined with increased construction activity - in Ontario, construction is highly seasonal, with a high demand for locates in the summer months. The GTA was singled out as an area where late locates were occurring, which corresponds to an increase in the level of construction activity over the past few years. Significant increases in the volume of locate requests - some members noted that since they had joined Ontario One Call, the volume of locate requests had increased by between five to ten times. This was straining their existing resources and making it difficult to meet the five business days locate delivery timeline despite all reasonable attempts. Significant increase in the complexity of locate requests - in the GTA, some members noted that the ratio of construction activities was previously comprised of 30% complex project work (e.g., road building) and 70% residential locates (e.g., building a fence). This ratio has now reversed with 70% project work to 30% residential locates. Outsourcing locate delivery to a third party locate service provider - to gain a better understanding of the locate service provider industry, the ministry asked if members use in-house expertise to provide locates or outsource to a third party. The ministry found that the majority of the members interviewed outsourced either in whole or in part to an external third party locate service provider. It is not known if this factor impacts the timeliness of locates. Most excavators believed that late locates were occurring because members and their locate service providers were not adequately resourced to meet locate request demands from excavators. Most members believed that late locates were occurring due to a large increase in the volume and complexity of locate requests. The following provides an overview of suggestions the ministry heard to improve locate delivery timelines: Consumer Protection Ontario Public Safety Branch Page 4

5 Differentiate between project locates and standard locates : Ontario One Call should define the term project locate to allow for a locate delivery timeframe of more than five business days as these are very complex requests compared to residential locate requests which are typically straight forward. While Ontario One Call has developed a working definition for project work, the locate delivery timeframe is given the same priority as a standard locate. Project work is a request that meets any or all of the following criteria: Encompasses an area greater than one city block in an urban environment or 1,000 meters in a rural setting. A project that will take longer than 30 days to complete (i.e., water/sewer replacement, deep servicing, utility relocation). Where the same type of work is being requested in multiple geographic locations (i.e., pole replacements, tree planting, stump removal, mailbox installations, etc.). 2 Improve forecasting tools: To help predict the number of locates expected in the year ahead, Ontario One Call should develop tools to forecast locate volumes. This would allow members to better meet excavator demands. Renegotiate timelines: The Act allows members and excavators to negotiate a timeframe to deliver locates outside of the standard five business days. While this works well in some areas, concerns raised about the current renegotiation process include: Excavators are unwilling to negotiate even when the five business day timeframe is unrealistic. Renegotiations are occurring without proper consent (both the member and excavator must agree on a timeframe). Renegotiated timeframes are still not met. Ontario One Call should clarify what constitutes a valid renegotiation process so that the process works in a clear and transparent manner for all parties. Summary: Timely locates continue to be a priority for excavators who need this information quickly to meet construction timelines. Particularly in the GTA, members are having difficulty providing locates within the five business days due to the high level of construction activity and corresponding locate requests. Stakeholders suggested the issue of late locates could be addressed by differentiating between project locates and standard locates, improving forecasting tools, and developing a process to help renegotiate locate delivery timeframes. 2 Source: Ontario One Call s Website Glossary Available: Ontario One Call's Glossary (Accessed January 11, 2017) Consumer Protection Ontario Public Safety Branch Page 5

6 Improving the Efficiency of the Excavation Process Stakeholders were generally positive about the overall efficiency of Ontario One Call s call centre service. Most members and excavators noted that the mandatory one-call-to-dig system in Ontario has made the locate request process more efficient, particularly in that it provides a centralized contact point for excavators. However, the ministry received many suggestions from stakeholders for operational improvements. Several specific areas of focus to help improve efficiency are highlighted below. Additional operational suggestions are outlined in Appendix B. Address improper use ( abuse ) of the locate request system: Members commented that excavators are abusing the locate request system. Suggestions on how Ontario One Call could curb this behavior included: Verify that excavators have a valid need to dig and that they are not requesting locates as a nice to have, on speculation to obtain a contract, or for preengineering purposes. Stop excavators from ticket dumping (i.e., excavators inputting too many locate requests into the system at one time). Stop excavators from requesting new locates when either relocates or remarks would be more efficient. Relocates should be requested in cases when the prior locate has expired or because there has been a change and re-marks should be requested because someone s original mark washed away on the prior locate before the expiry date and needs to be redone. Stop excavators from falsely requesting emergency locates 3 to get their locates faster by developing additional criteria to define what constitutes an emergency locate or by penalizing excavators for their behaviour. Improve the quality of the locate requests: Some members expressed concerns that they were receiving poor quality locate requests which were slowing down their processing time. Members reported that many locate requests were too vague or the requested area to locate was too large without reasonable limits which made it challenging for them to provide locates efficiently. Some members suggested that increased auditing and better quality control by Ontario One Call could improve the quality of locate requests and make the overall process more efficient. 3 Emergency locate request is defined in Ontario One Call s By-law as a loss of service by a utility that in the circumstances would be considered essential, so that absence of the service can reasonably be expected to result in an imminent or significant safety or environmental hazard, or imminent threat to the person or the public. An excavator crew is either on site or has been dispatched. Members must take all reasonable steps to respond to these requests within two hours. Source: Ontario One Call s Website Glossary. Available: Ontario One Call's Glossary (Accessed December 1, 2016) Consumer Protection Ontario Public Safety Branch Page 6

7 Improve delivery of the actual locate: Many comments were received from excavators about the actual locate provided by members. For example, several excavators complained about the poor quality and consistency of locates in that utilities did not provide them in a uniform way. While Ontario One Call does not provide the actual locates (its function is to route the locate request), Ontario One Call is seen to be well-positioned to consider ways to improve the manner in which its members and locate service providers are delivering locates to excavators. Another area of concern was the constant cycle of remarks and relocates which interferes with excavators scheduled excavation activities. Ontario One Call could work together with the excavation community to find ways of addressing this challenge; however, not all aspects are expected to fall within Ontario One Call s direct purview. The ministry also asked questions to better understand members and excavators experience with Ontario One Call s role as a regulator. A core activity for Ontario One Call is to monitor compliance and enforce timely locate delivery in the province. Members and excavators have different views of Ontario One Call s role as a regulator. Ontario One Call s Compliance Activities Members Perspective Some positive comments were received from members about their interactions with Ontario One Call s Compliance Department. For example, several members commented that the Compliance Department provided them with an opportunity to remedy situations first without using the administrative monetary amount process set out in Ontario One Call s By-law. Some members also conveyed appreciation to the Compliance Department for only bringing serious matters to their attention (as opposed to frivolous ones). To further improve the system, suggestions were received to streamline the complaint process to provide better end-to-end communication, particularly by confirming when a complaint file was closed. All of the members believed that stronger enforcement or penalties against members would not improve locate delivery timeframes. One member was of the view that Ontario One Call s Compliance Department could use its authority to compel members to change their internal processes to fix inefficiencies that may contribute to late locate delivery. Ontario One Call s Compliance Activities Excavators Perspective Excavators were concerned about what they perceived as Ontario One Call s lack of enforcement powers to deal with members who routinely provide late locates. Almost all Consumer Protection Ontario Public Safety Branch Page 7

8 the excavators interviewed were in favour of increasing compliance efforts to support the delivery of timely locates. Suggestions included: Consider whether late members would benefit from entering into alternate locate agreements 4 to improve efficiency. Issue administrative monetary amounts against non-compliant members. Name and shame late members such as publicly posting their information. Summary: While positive feedback was received about the efficiency of the call centre service, several suggestions for operational improvements were received. Two priority areas to improve efficiency include addressing: Excavators improper use of the locate request system. Poor quality locate requests. While not all of these issues fall within its direct control, Ontario One Call is well positioned to influence improvements in the system. Compliance is an issue which has many conflicting perspectives to consider and is expected to evolve over time as the system continues to mature. Reducing Damage to Underground Infrastructure One of the primary objectives of the Act is to reduce damage to buried infrastructure. While some members noted that damage to their infrastructure had decreased since the Act was passed, others noted there has been no change to the number of damage incidents (i.e., damage has stayed the same). In some cases, it was noted that data on damages is already collected within a particular sector by a different body (for example, electrical utilities report on damage information to the Ontario Energy Board). Many utilities also voluntarily report damage information to the Ontario Regional Common Ground Alliance (ORCGA) s Damage Information Reporting Tool (also known as the DIRT report). There was little support for the idea that Ontario One Call could play a greater role in the collection of damage data (as the organization does not own the data). Two stakeholders noted that Ontario One Call could play a greater role in the interpretation of existing information by linking damage events to the type of excavation requests in its system. 4 Although not defined in the Act or the By-law, an alternate locate agreement is a contractual agreement between a facility owner and an excavator that allows the excavator to proceed with their excavation work without receiving a traditional field locate. This is only applicable in situations where certain conditions are met. Source: Ontario Regional Common Ground Alliance 2014 Best Practices 8.0. Available: ORCGA Best Practices Definition of Alternate Locate Agreement (Accessed on December 1, 2016). Consumer Protection Ontario Public Safety Branch Page 8

9 Many stakeholders commented on the need for Ontario One Call to enhance its role in building awareness and educating the public about safe digging practices, which could reduce infrastructure damage over time. Specific suggestions included raising awareness of the requirement to call before you dig to excavators, including homeowners and landscapers. Summary: Members reported on a qualitative basis that damage to buried infrastructure has either decreased or remained the same since the Act was passed. However, there is no quantifiable data to support this position. Enhanced education and awareness of the requirement to call before you dig would be beneficial. Legislation Throughout the course of the interviews, several stakeholders provided the following observations about the Act and the regulation. Some stakeholders identified a need to clarify legal and regulatory requirements specifically: Provide Ontario One Call with more enforcement tools to tackle excavator behaviour. Define the scope of a locate request. Define precisely what it means to make all reasonable attempts to provide a locate within five business days. Remove or increase the five business days timeline to provide locates (i.e., remove the reference in the Act altogether or change it to 10 business days). Some of these suggestions could be addressed without making changes to the Act and its regulation. Ontario One Call will continue to work on tools to provide members and excavators with additional clarity on the legal and regulatory requirements as appropriate. Next Steps Stakeholders raised a number of operational suggestions that Ontario One Call could undertake that would support digging activities in the province, including ways to improve the timeliness of locate delivery and the overall efficiency of the locate request process. The ministry has shared these suggestions with Ontario One Call for its consideration. Ontario One Call has indicated in preliminary discussions that it is supportive of many of the suggestions and some operational improvements are already underway. In 2017, Ontario One Call will enhance its education and awareness activities and develop a compliance policy to support timely locate delivery. The ministry will continue to collect data from the 2017 digging season by working with Ontario One Call to gather information on locate delivery. Ontario One Call will also establish performance measures to evaluate the prevalence of late locates (by sector and geographical region). Given that Ontario One Call s function is limited to routing locate requests and does not provide the locate itself, a broader, Consumer Protection Ontario Public Safety Branch Page 9

10 coordinated approach involving both members and excavators is needed to improve the overall system in Ontario. The ministry encourages members and excavators to work together to support the province s digging activities in their communities. Members are encouraged to raise suggestions for operational improvements with Ontario One Call directly as it is a member-based organization. Excavators with concerns are also encouraged to continue to raise them with Ontario One Call directly as they are the main users of its call centre service. Closing Remarks In closing, the ministry would like to thank those who took part in this outreach for their time and interest in Ontario s one-call-to-dig system. The ministry would like to continue to hear from stakeholders. If you have more feedback to share, please the ministry s Public Safety Branch at onecalltodig@ontario.ca to provide your comments. Consumer Protection Ontario Public Safety Branch Page 10

11 Appendix A Stakeholder Outreach Discussion Questions 1. Timely Locate Delivery In some areas of Ontario we understand utility companies and municipalities are having difficulty locating their underground infrastructure for excavators within the Act s timeframes resulting in additional costs and construction delays for excavators. Are there structural issues that are causing late locates - labour issues, shortage, training requirements etc. Do you (your members) outsource to a locate service provider or use an in-house provider? What has been your experience with Ontario One Call as regulator? Would stronger enforcement and penalties improve locate delivery timelines? The Act allows members and excavators to agree to different timelines, beyond the five business days. Do you (your members) ever do this and if so do you have any feedback to share? Do you (your members) use Ontario One Call s emergency locate request process? If so do you have any feedback to share? Is more clarity needed about what members and excavators obligations are in the onecall-to-dig system? 2. Improving Efficiency During the passage of the Act it was argued that by making it mandatory for all utilities in the public right of way to join Ontario One Call, the excavation process would be streamlined in that excavators only have to call one number to Ontario One Call instead of calling each utility owner separately. Has the one-call-to-dig system made a difference in improving efficiency for excavators and if so how? Do you (your members) see any challenges with the current system? Are there other issues which have impacted efficiency for excavators? Are there other ways/policies that Ontario One Call could adopt to make it more efficient for excavators? 3. Reducing Infrastructure Damage During the passage of the Act, one of the stated objectives of making it mandatory to call before you dig is to reduce damage to buried infrastructure. Are you (your members) tracking and reporting damage to infrastructure during excavation? Have you (your members) noticed a decrease in damages over the last two to four years? Has this resulted in cost-savings or safety benefits to you or your members? Do you think Ontario One Call has a role to play in collecting data on damages? Consumer Protection Ontario Public Safety Branch Page 11

12 Appendix B List of Operational Suggestions The Ministry of Government and Consumer Services heard the following suggestions during outreach to improve Ontario s one-call-to-dig system: Differentiate between project locates and standard locates. Improve forecasting tools. Review the process to renegotiate timelines. Prevent excavator improper use of the locate request system. Improve the quality of the locate requests. Clarify Ontario One Call s compliance role. Make the overall locate process more efficient. Better leverage damage data to identify root causes of why damage is occurring. In addition, the ministry heard the following suggestions which were operational in nature: 1. Improving locate turnaround timelines Ontario One Call s locate request intake system should support the use of a dedicated locator model to help members and excavators working on large infrastructure projects. 2. Improving efficiency for the excavation process Ontario One Call should work with excavators and members to create a standard locate size that is reasonable. Ontario One Call should encourage members to adopt the same locate validity period. It currently ranges from 30 to 90 days for locates and this lack of uniformity feeds into the cycle of remarks and relocates due to expired locates. 3. Reducing damage to underground infrastructure Ontario One Call should explore better linkages between the types of excavation requests and damage prevention (e.g., which types of excavation requests result in the greatest number of damages). Ontario One Call should consider delivering call before you dig training to excavators who are digging around buried infrastructure. 4. General operational suggestions Many comments were received about improvements to the 360 Feedback feature. Members are required to use this feature to update the status of their locate requests and provide excavators with a place to check the status of the locate request. Suggestions included: Add new status fields to help users see what the actual status of the request is. Add a Notes section as a place where all users could provide more details. Stop members and locate service providers from changing the information in the system without excavators consent. Improve education/awareness about the requirement to complete the information in a timely way. Consumer Protection Ontario Public Safety Branch Page 12

13 Review what is considered a valid emergency for emergency locate requests. Specifically, it was noted that electrical power outages and municipal water main breaks should be treated as emergencies by Ontario One Call s call centre. Ontario One Call should periodically consult with its members on their needs and review what other software/mapping providers have to offer instead of relying on a single provider. Ontario One Call s ticket request software should be updated to include most recent civic addresses, street segments. Improve the service levels of the call centre as higher than normal call wait response times were noted. Review the current composition of Ontario One Call s Board and committees including the Compliance Committee to provide more excavator and non-utility representation. In addition, generally, Ontario One Call should make sure that everyone in the sector has the opportunity to play an equal role in the committees. Create an education and marketing advisory committee to promote the requirement to call before you dig, particularly for homeowners and landscapers. Other suggestions for public education campaigns included: How to read a locate sheet so that basic terms are understood in a uniform way across industries Clarify when excavators are legally required to make a locate request as in some specific circumstances it is not clear. Review the existing ticket cancellation/suspension process to reduce delays. If this not possible, Ontario One Call should contact the excavator who made the request and notify them of the delay and provide an explanation for it. Ontario One Call should field questions from homeowners about who is digging, for what purpose etc., on the members behalf as these inquiries are time-consuming and Ontario One Call is well-positioned to provide the information. Consider providing further clarification about the obligation for transitionary owners of infrastructure to provide locates, in municipal unassumed subdivisions. Specifically, provide advice on who should provide the locate to the excavator (the developer or the municipality). Consider ways to reduce costs for municipal members who own multiple utilities unlike most other members. This could include promoting better integration between municipal permit and locate request systems. Consumer Protection Ontario Public Safety Branch Page 13