Some members want to receive every locate request within their service area. These members do not need to map the location of their underground plant within their service area, instead advising Ontario One Call which Cities/Municipalities they would like to be notified in. This is called “municipal-wide coverage”. Some distribution members who do not have extensive underground facilities wish to limit the number of notifications they receive in their service area to the specific locations where their records indicate they have underground plant. This is called “street-level coverage”. When the verification process is completed, the information is entered in Ontario One Call’s database in order to determine which members will be notified. Ontario One Call depends entirely on the member for the accuracy and up-to-date status of the plant location information provided. Because the coverage identified by a particular member is driven completely by the members themselves, all member companies are required to validate their existing Ontario One Call annually in a process called “Annual Validation”. The member will be contacted by a representative from Ontario One Call requesting validation for the given calendar year and will be provided a deadline by which to do so. Failure to validate coverage each year places liability for inaccurate map coverage solely on the member and may jeopardize their membership status with Ontario One Call.
Annual validation is critical for members. If a request for locates occurs at a dig site within a members service area but is not intersected by the members’ plant location polygon, the excavator may be informed that they are “clear to dig” for that member and notification is not sent to that member.