A utility strike is often over in a matter of minutes, but its consequences can last for months or even years. That is the message of the latest edition of Beneath B.C., BC 1 Call’s six-part series exploring the importance of underground damage prevention.
In the third installment, the organization explains that damage to buried infrastructure is rarely an isolated incident. Instead, it can trigger a chain of events that affects public safety, the environment, transportation networks and local communities long after repairs have been completed.
One of British Columbia’s most significant examples occurred on July 24, 2007, when an excavation strike caused a 30-metre geyser that released nearly 234,000 litres of crude oil onto Burnaby’s Barnett Highway over a period of almost 25 minutes. The spill spread through nearby neighbourhoods and storm drains before reaching Burrard Inlet, forcing residents from their homes and leading to months of environmental cleanup, shoreline restoration and community recovery.
The report also points to the failure of Calgary’s Bearspaw South Feeder Main, where investigators determined that several factors contributed to the catastrophic rupture, including evidence of earlier damage to the underground pipe. According to BC 1 Call, even seemingly minor or unreported contact with buried infrastructure can gradually weaken critical systems until a much larger failure occurs.
More recently, BC Hydro dealt with an incident in downtown Vancouver after an excavation contractor drilled into an underground duct bank, damaging several high-voltage electrical distribution cables.
One of the damaged cables failed, causing a widespread power outage that affected homes, hospitals, schools and government offices. Although BC Hydro was able to restore electricity quickly through its looped distribution network, the outage still disrupted hundreds of customers and is expected to result in repair costs exceeding $100,000. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
The incident also demonstrated that protecting underground infrastructure requires more than simply identifying what lies directly beneath an excavation site. Contractors need to know about the larger underground network around their work zone for techniques such as horizontal directional drilling, anchor installation, and other trenchless construction methods.
“Every utility strike has the potential to create consequences far beyond the excavation itself,” says BC 1 Call.
Damaged electrical cables can be an immediate danger to workers and the public, while damage to telecommunications infrastructure can disrupt emergency 9-1-1 services, where every second counts. During winter, a loss of natural gas service can lead to frozen pipes and costly property damage, while prolonged power outages during extreme heat can become life-threatening. The organization notes that more than 600 people died in British Columbia during the province’s 2021 heat dome, many of them in homes without adequate cooling.
Beyond the immediate life safety hazards, utility strikes often lead to evacuations, road closures, project delays and huge financial losses. A single incident involving a homeowner, such as striking a gas line while digging in a backyard, can interrupt service across an entire neighbourhood and require utility crews to restore gas and relight pilot lights in every affected home.
According to the Canadian Common Ground Alliance, damage to underground infrastructure costs Canadian society more than $1 billion every year. BC 1 Call stresses that repair expenses represent only a small portion of those costs, which also include environmental cleanup, emergency response, business interruptions, project delays and lost productivity.
The organization argues that the most effective damage prevention measures are also the simplest. Proper planning, submitting BC 1 Call locate requests before excavation, verifying underground conditions in the field and stopping work whenever safety procedures have not been completed are all essential steps in preventing costly incidents.
While damage prevention is often described as protecting underground infrastructure, BC 1 Call believes its broader purpose is maintaining public confidence that essential services such as electricity, natural gas, water and emergency communications will remain available when communities need them most.
The next installment of the Beneath B.C. series will focus on the five essential steps of safe excavation, outlining the practices that help protect workers, keep construction projects moving and safeguard British Columbia’s underground infrastructure.
