eCompliance Submits Ground Disturbance Online Training Course To The ABCGA

eCompliance is pleased to announce that we have submitted our Ground Disturbance online training course to the Alberta Common Ground Alliance (ABCGA) for certification against their 201 Standard for training supervisors.

Employers involved in trenching, excavating and other ground disturbing activities will now be able to provide their employees with best-in-class industry approved, high quality content and training when and where it is convenient, without the cost of traveling and lost work hours associated with classroom based offsite training.

Already a popular training course for thousands of workers per year in Alberta, an endorsement by the ABCGA will provide further evidence that eCompliance offers the most comprehensive and market tested course in Canada.

What is the ABCGA?

The Alberta Common Ground Alliance is the provincial partner of the Canadian Common Ground Alliance (CCGA) and is “an open membership organization dedicated to improving worker safety, public safety, community safety, protection of the environment and preservation of the integrity of the infrastructure that provides goods and services that are essential to today’s society by identifying, validating and promoting the adoption of effective ground disturbance and damage prevention practices.”^[1]

Essentially, CCGA and their provincial partners (including the ABCGA) promote effective ground disturbance practices and damage prevention across the country. The ABCGA and other provincial partners also help workers to find damage prevention information and to provide support. Each provincial partner is responsible for creating its own objectives. The ABCGA’s objectives include:

• Preventing damage from ground disturbance by identifying, validating and promoting the adoption among all stakeholders in the buried facility damage prevention process
• Defining and promoting recognition and acceptance of the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of all the stakeholder groups in the buried facility damage prevention process
• Establishing and maintaining a ground disturbance training program assessment and endorsement process to ensure minimum content consistency and relevance
• Fostering a cooperative approach to the resolution of issues among all the stakeholders in the buried facility damage prevention process
• Fostering a sense of shared responsibility for the prevention of damage to buried facilities
• Advocating the development and implementation of fair, reasonable, and practical damage prevention regulation that’s based on best practice and acceptable to all stakeholder groups
• Sponsoring, promoting, and participating in public awareness, education, and training programs related to the prevention of damage to buried facilities and safe ground disturbance activities

Developing a Recognized ABCGA Ground Disturbance eLearning Training Course

eCompliance has been a member of the ABCGA (previously the ADPC – Alberta Damage Prevention Council) for over 6 years and has, throughout its involvement, been an active proponent and supporter of developing an online course requirement standard for the industry. Online training embraces the innovation that technology enables and provides industries with access to the same high quality content and training that’s expected from a classroom setting, but at a significantly lower cost per trainee.

The eCompliance course covers ABCGA Standard 201, 101 and contains detailed information about ground disturbance legislation in Alberta, including any overlap and or gaps in regulations. We have also included non-regulated industry best practices, filling a vital gap in regulations. Moreover, we used real-life case studies and built engaging interactive exercises to ensure active learning. This also allows for immediate feedback, giving learners the opportunity to diagnose their own progress.

Furthermore, the course translates difficult to understand conceptual information into easy to understand visual diagrams and illustrations. In order to assist learners on the job, the course also includes a broad selection of free resources such as checklists and templates.

Next Steps 

Ground Disturbance training can be purchased here. Alternatively, for companies looking to decrease the time they spend administering their training certificates and retraining dates, eCompliance software provides training management tools that include instant access to training certificates and automatic training for the entire workforce.

Sources

^[1] ABCGA – http://www.albertacga.ca/about/abcga-overview