Send us Fan Mail

Every step of the damage prevention process was followed…and a five-year-old boy still died.

Mike Sullivan sits down with Ron Peterson, Executive Director of the National Utility Locating Contractors Association (NULCA) and a 30-plus-year veteran of the locating industry, to discuss the position paper that sent shockwaves through the damage prevention world: "This System Is Designed to Fail."

Peterson explains why a one-call system built 50 years ago for a million locate requests can't survive 250 million notifications, ticket abuse with zero consequences, and utility maps that show lines on the wrong side of the road…or not at all.

What sets this conversation apart is Peterson's refusal to point fingers outward first: locating contractors, he argues, must own their failures in staffing, retention, and race-to-the-bottom contract bidding.

Mike and Ron also explore Alberta's Alternate Locate Provider program as living proof that unlocking locator capacity dramatically reduces damages, and float a bold "Uber for locators" concept that could reshape how excavators secure qualified help.

Listen for:

1:10 How does a stranger spray-painting your backyard turn into a 35-year career?

3:57 What happens when a system built for one million locate requests faces 250 million?

9:15 Why did a fatal gas explosion 500 feet from Ron's childhood home force this reckoning?

15:02 Why do trained locators keep walking out the door and is money really the reason?

32:28 Could ordering a qualified locator like an Uber actually fix the capacity crisis?

Connect with Guests:Ron Peterson, Executive Director at NULCA-The Voice of Professional Locators

LinkedIn | Website | NULCA

Follow The Safety Moment via Utility Safety Partners

X | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook

Got an episode idea? info@utilitysafety.ca