The Communication and Education Committee develops and communicates public stakeholder awareness and educational programs. These programs and products will focus on the Best Practices and the theme of damage prevention. The Committee looks at existing damage prevention education programs to identify opportunities where the Alliance can have significant impact in furthering the reach and effectiveness of those programs. The Committee is also tasked with the development of new educational messages and items.

DigSafe BC! Workshop Series

The Communication and Education Committee is responsible for delivering the Alliance’s DigSafe BC! Workshop series. The Dig Safe BC! Workshop is a one day workshop targeted at any company that is excavating near underground utilities.  Each year in BC, there are over 5,000 hits to underground infrastructure and some of these have caused injury, damages, environmental catastrophes, disruption in utility service and, periodically, death.  Even when no one is hurt, incidents cost the government and taxpayers millions of dollars.

The Dig Safe BC! Program is province-wide and teaches construction workers, contractors, landscapers, irrigation technicians, railway workers, road crews, city workers, and anyone else who digs, how to avoid buried pipelines, cables, and other underground infrastructure.  The Workshop includes sessions on utility and pipeline awareness, ground disturbance regulations, locating basics, BC One Call, damage prevention, excavating safely and provides demonstrations.

The Dig Safe Workshops have been organized and delivered by industry representatives across the province who volunteer their time to educate attendees about Best Practices regarding working near underground utilities, such as gas, oil, water, cable, electricity, etc., in order to reduce the number of hits and prevent injuries and damages. Support of the sessions comes from the construction and excavating industry, regulators, municipalities, locators and utility owners.

To date, DigSafe has been offered in the following communities:

• Prince George ~ March 2008
• Kamloops ~ April 2008
• Burnaby ~ November 2008
• Kelowna ~ March 2009
• Fort St. John / Taylor ~ April 2009
• Nanaimo ~ November 2009
• Abbotsford ~ February 2010
• Cranbrook ~ March 2010
• Fort Nelson – Fall 2010 (date TBA)