Who is responsible for trench safety on a Kanata waterproofing dig?

The contractor is responsible for trench safety on an exterior waterproofing dig in Kanata. Ontario's construction regulation, O. Reg. 213/91, places that duty on the constructor at the site, not the homeowner.

Before anyone breaks ground, Ontario's Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, 2012 requires a locate request. Ontario Dig Authority asks for it at least 5 business days before digging starts. The contractor, as the excavator on a hired job, submits that request. Utilities mark their lines; work proceeds after they respond.

Once digging begins, O. Reg. 213/91 sets out what the contractor must do: services are located and marked before excavating, a level strip at least 1 m wide is kept clear at the edge of the excavation, and if the dig may affect the stability of an adjacent building, an engineer must specify the precautions in writing before work starts. Those are the contractor's obligations.

A few things worth knowing as the homeowner:

• You are not the excavator when you hire a contractor, so the locate duty sits with them. If you were digging yourself, the Act would make you the excavator and the locate would be your responsibility.
• Never enter the trench. That is not a homeowner task under any circumstances.
• If anything strikes a buried line or you smell gas during the work, leave the area and call emergency services from a safe place.

The single most useful person to ask first is the contractor, before signing anything: ask them to confirm in writing that they will submit the locate request to Ontario Dig Authority, their insurance details, and that they will obtain any required engineer's sign-off if the excavation is near a neighbouring structure.