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After fifteen seasons, what do you say to the people who carried you through the hardest one?

In this solo episode, Mike Sullivan, President of Utility Safety Partners, reflects on a digging year when calls to the contact centre rose more than 40 percent, and he thanks the agents, team leaders and managers who got through it.

He looks at what gives him confidence, including the Alternate Locate Provider option, the Look Up and Live overhead power line map, and the Damage Prevention Professional Certification, a program he is grateful his board backed.

He also shares that he will retire on April 30, 2027, and looks back on a career he calls a privilege.

Listen for:

:45 What happens when call volume jumps 40% and the locates never arrive?

5:15 Why are damages near zero when the locator isn't rushed?

9:00 Why do people hit overhead power lines they can plainly see?

12:45 What qualifies someone to manage damage prevention?

16:30 Could AI have predicted the season no one saw coming?

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This is a REPLAY of an episode first published in April 2026.

What if the people who keep gas lines, fibre, and power cables from being torn out of the ground have never had a profession to call their own?

Mike Sullivan talks with Coral Lukaniuk; engineer, longtime pipeline-integrity and public-awareness leader, and founder of coRoc Solutions, now Executive Director of the brand-new Damage Prevention Professional (DPP) Certification Program.

They unpack a strange truth: damage prevention is named in federal and provincial regulation, yet nearly everyone in it "fell into" the work, with no curriculum, credential, or career pathway behind them.

Coral explains why a nonprofit like Utility Safety Partners is the right home for the program, why it's emphatically not "just an Alberta thing," and why building a profession is a decades-long project worth starting now.

The conversation lands on a simple test of success: a day when DPP certification is a job requirement, and a damage-prevention pro is recognized as readily as an electrician at your door.

Listen for:

2:59 Why has no one ever built a career path for the people protecting what's buried beneath us?

7:25 Why does it matter that a nonprofit — not a company — is behind this certification?

13:58 Why would a board chase a goal that comes with no guarantee of success?

26:12 Why do so many people wrongly dismiss this as "just an Alberta thing"?

30:53 What does success actually look like for a profession that has never existed?

Connect with Guests:Coral Lukaniuk,Executive Director | coRoc Solutions

LinkedIn | Damage Prevention Professional Certification

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This is a REPLAY of an episode first published in August 2024.

Ready to revolutionize excavation safety?

Mike sits down with Ron Laidman and Iain Stables to explore Alberta's Alternate Locate Provider (ALP) program.

Launched after years of development, the ALP is set to change the game in damage prevention, offering unprecedented flexibility, increased capacity, and improved safety for all excavation projects.

Dig in as they discuss the ALP's impact, the challenges of implementation, and what the future holds for this innovative approach.

Listen For:
00:56 - The Birth of the Alternate Locate Provider (ALP) Program
05:13 - The Challenges of Consortium Contracts and the Need for Change
18:34 - The Rigorous Assessment Protocol for ALP Providers
25:28 - How Excavators Can Initiate the ALP Process

Guests:
Ron Laidman | Principal Advisor at Enertia Solutions
Email | LinkedIn

Iain Stables | Manager at ATCO Energy Systems
Email | Iain’s LinkedIn | Website | ATCO LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram

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Got an episode idea? info@utilitysafety.ca