Avoid damage to utilities when you call before you dig
As the weather begins to grow warmer, it’s time to be thinking about outdoor home improvement projects.
Maybe you need to install a new mailbox. You might want to put up a fence or you could be thinking of adding a garage or a deck to your house.
Whatever it is, officials are reminding homeowners and contractors, “Call before you dig.”
A campaign to bring awareness is in full swing in April, which is the 11th annual National Safe Digging Month. The danger in digging is that you could damage underground utility lines.
Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania noted in a recent press release that Pennsylvania law requires a homeowner or contractor to call 811 at least three business days prior to beginning excavation. The person conducting the excavation is charged with that responsibility even if the planned excavation will be shallow. The call is free for homeowners.
Simply call 811, a national phone number designated by the Federal Communications Commission. The hotline is operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
“Calling 811 before digging allows us to mark our gas lines and prevent a potentially dangerous situation. As a homeowner or contractor, it keeps you and your neighbors safe and prevents potential costly repairs,” Mike Davidson, Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania vice president and general manager, said in the press release. “We want everyone to complete spring outdoor projects safely and efficiently, so we urge you to call 811 if you plan to dig.”
Utilities are notified through the Pennsylvania One Call System Inc., which is a 45-year-old privately funded non-profit corporation whose purpose is to prevent damage to underground utilities, according to its website www.pa1call.org,
“Excavators call us at least three business days before they intend to dig. Pennsylvania One Call System then contacts underground line owners near the dig site, and the owner of the underground line is responsible for ‘marking’ where their line(s) are located with colored paint or flags. This gives the excavator more awareness that underground lines are nearby during excavation,” the website explained.
“Once the underground facility owner marks the dig site with colored paint or flags, they tell us ‘marked.’ If the underground line owner does not have lines near where the excavator will dig, they tell us ‘clear.’ It is important to note that the underground line owner is responsible for marking lines if their facilities are involved,” noted the website, adding, “Pennsylvania One Call System, Inc. is not responsible for marking underground lines.”
The website explained underground facility owners are required, by law, to be a member of Pennsylvania One Call System, Inc.
“As of December 2016, we had 3,542 members across the state of Pennsylvania – including water companies, natural gas companies, pipeline companies, municipalities and electric companies,” according to the website.
In 2016, the website reported, Pennsylvania One Call System accepted 816,682 calls for excavation and sent over six million messages to over 3,500 critical infrastructure sites across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Common Ground Alliance (CGA), the national association dedicated to protecting underground utility lines, people who dig near them, and their communities, reported on its website, “There are more than 20 million miles of underground utilities in the United States, per data compiled by CGA from various industry groups. That figure equates to more than one football field’s length (105 yards) of buried utilities for every man, woman and child in the U.S.”
So the best way to keep it safe is to make that call to 811 part of planning for your next outdoor home improvement project.