Prior to commencing excavation around an older commercial building in British Columbia, an excavator operator discovers unmarked utility lines within the planned excavation area. What is the immediate and most appropriate action the operator should take?

Question: Prior to commencing excavation around an older commercial building in British Columbia, an excavator operator discovers unmarked utility lines within the planned excavation area. What is the immediate and most appropriate action the operator should take?

Answer options:

• Proceed with extreme caution, hand digging in the immediate vicinity of the unmarked lines.
• Attempt to contact the building owner for information on the utility layout. ✅ Stop all excavation work immediately and contact BC One Call (BC 1 Call) again for further assistance.
• Use ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to identify the exact location and depth of the lines.

Correct answer: Stop all excavation work immediately and contact BC One Call (BC 1 Call) again for further assistance.

Explanation: Upon discovering unmarked utilities, the excavator operator's primary responsibility is to stop work immediately and contact the relevant provincial one-call service (BC 1 Call in this instance). Proceeding with excavation, even cautiously, risks damaging utilities and endangering workers. Contacting the building owner without consulting the utility locate service first is not the correct procedure, and using GPR is a specialized task typically performed by utility locators, not the excavator operator.