For more than a decade, the Edmonton Area Pipeline and Utility Operators’ Committee (EAPUOC) has recognized an outstanding individual or company with the Bruce Wilson Contractor Safety Award.
As a long time EAPUOC damage prevention consultant and safety innovator, Bruce Wilson had deep connections with the digging community. Be it handing out Safe Dig Manuals at safety seminars and trade shows or visiting excavating contractors at their shops, he was instrumental in spreading the message that “every ground disturbance should begin with an Alberta One-Call.”
Following Bruce’s passing in 2006, it was decided that a safety award would be fitting. Not only would it serve as an enduring tribute to a great man who dedicated his career to enhancing safety and awareness in Edmonton’s digging communities, it would inspire others to strive for excellence.
The general criteria for the Bruce Wilson Contractor Safety Award is "he/she be an individual who is involved in creating ground disturbances, understands the importance of consistently following the rules with respect to working around buried facilities and demonstrates concern for fellow workers and safety of the general public".
In the fall nominations are accepted from EAPUOC’s members for the annual Award. These names are then circulated to the membership and voted on by them resulting in a winner being chosen and subsequently honoured/recognized at EAPUOC’s December General Meeting.
Carl Wagoner Proudly Displaying His Award
The winner of the 2023 Bruce Wilson Contractor Safety Award is Carl Wagoner.
Listed below are some significant details of this year’s recipient of this special honor:
- He has always been interested in heavy equipment;
- During holidays, in the third grade he began running loader at a sawmill near Lodge poll;
- At 13 years of age, he started running excavators for Verian Developments after school and weekends;
- After high school, he worked for Richardson Bros. Construction, rebuilding HWY 2A from Olds to Didsbury;
- As a teenager and early 20’s he worked at Hazco during the summer months doing remediation and reclamation;
- In the winter months he worked on drilling rigs;
- He worked for Shell in the foothills and mountains, doing road and lease construction;
- He ran excavator, dozer, grader for various pipeline contractors;
- He has worked on pipelines from 3" to 42";
- He has been an instructor for the OLDS Collage continuing education department. He taught an introductory to heavy equipment / safe use of heavy equipment course as well as a course for road maintenance with graders to indigenous operators;
- For the past five years, he assumed the role of pipeline general inspector for urban pipeline projects;
- He recently left the inspection role when offered the ground disturbance supervisor position for Triple J. Pipelines;
Previous Award recipients include:
2022 – Grant Huys
2021 – Crystal Pihowich
2020 – Sacha Mathieson
2019 – Dale Wilson
2018 – CTL Canada
2017 – Janet Welter, Locate Management
2016 – Joe Verbeek, Joe Verbeek Contracting Ltd.
2015 - Dawn-Marie Rice, Jatec
2014 - Harvey Hull
2013 - Ernie Johnson, AECON
2012 - Michael Gary Goebel, AltaFlights (Posthumously)
2011 - Gerry Vandersteen, Precision Gradall
2010 - Hydrodig Edmonton
2009 - T.C. Backhoe and Directional Drilling
2008 - Commercial Trenching Ltd.
2007 - Sureway Construction Management Limited