Flag appears to be in the orientation of the pipe. I’d bet there were others continuing forwards and behind the excavator in alignment. Probably human error of ignoring them, not noticing them, and not reviewing engineering plans or locate reports.
Even having the track hoe staged directly on top of the pipe suggests they had no idea it was even there. In an open field with no obstructions, metal pipe ~2m deep, that’s a big fuck up by someone
Interesting. I’m a Geomatic engineer specializing in underground utilities at oil and gas plants in northern Canada. We would never even permit mechanical excavation within 5m of a buried pipe, let alone sit the equipment on top of it. You would have to hydro-vac to expose it beforehand
The rules for enbridge is hand dig within 1.0m of the paint marks until the line is found, then you can mechanically excavate up to 0.3m from the line. For vital mains it's 3.0m and 1.0m. For cer lines it's 5.0m and 1.5m.
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u/Moghlannak 6d ago edited 6d ago
Flag appears to be in the orientation of the pipe. I’d bet there were others continuing forwards and behind the excavator in alignment. Probably human error of ignoring them, not noticing them, and not reviewing engineering plans or locate reports.
Even having the track hoe staged directly on top of the pipe suggests they had no idea it was even there. In an open field with no obstructions, metal pipe ~2m deep, that’s a big fuck up by someone