With the construction season ramping up again workers are being reminded of safety practices to make sure they and others stay safe.
With that in mind the 26th annual Contractors Safety Breakfast was held in North Battleford Tuesday morning at the Gold Ridge Centre. North Battleford is one of 29 locales in Saskatchewan for these breakfast presentations, which in the last few years have been sponsored by the Saskatchewan Common Ground Alliance.
Those in attendance enjoyed a hearty breakfast including bacon, eggs and sausages, as well as a special video presentation on safe practices, including use of the Sask Ist Call Know Before You Dig program.
They also were reminded of the importance of white lining —marking out a proposed excavation area with white pin flags and white paint. The idea is to keep the workers safe and to prevent any needless service disruptions due to digging.
The importance of preventing service disruptions was underlined locally Easter Sunday, when SaskPower reported a power outage that affected Battleford and area was due to a damaged underground line.
Avoiding damage when digging or using excavation equipment was a key part of the message to the morning audience.
According to Garry Aveyard, SaskTel safety advisor who was the main presenter at the breakfast, the message to the contractors was to “make sure they do make that call whenever they’re doing excavations,” and also to “look up and live” and do their hazard assessments before the job starts.
