(BPT) – With spring formally here, home owners and landscape industry experts alike will be achieving for their shovels to commence digging tasks — from planting trees and building back garden beds to setting up new mailboxes, fences or swimming pools. Right before you put your shovel in the floor, never pass up the critical stage that can defend you, your neighbors and the utility companies you rely on: calling 811.
As 58% of American property owners prepare to dig this 12 months — in accordance to investigate from the Prevalent Ground Alliance (CGA) — getting in touch with 811 just before digging is important to keep away from unintentionally hanging a utility line. Regretably, somewhere around 34.9 million individuals across the nation will skip this vital stage right before commencing their job, which can outcome in inconvenient outages for complete neighborhoods, significant damage to on your own or your neighbors, and important mend expenses.
Getting in touch with 811 — by producing a absolutely free phone to 811 or, in most parts, a ask for on the internet — connects you to your area a person get in touch with utility notification heart to have underground utilities marked so that they are not damaged through digging assignments. Each digging task, no subject how massive or tiny, warrants getting in touch with 811. Installing a mailbox or fence, setting up a deck and landscaping are all illustrations of digging initiatives that really should only start a couple of days following calling 811 or distributing a request on the internet.
“A utility line is broken each several minutes in America due to the fact somebody resolved to dig with no making contact with 811 to understand the approximate area of buried utilities in their spot,” stated CGA President and CEO Sarah Magruder Lyle. “With an estimated 71 million People in america planning household advancements as the weather conditions warms up, getting in contact with 811 a handful of days right before any jobs that involve digging — like typical landscaping tasks like planting trees and shrubs — is critical to preventing incidents like services outages and severe accidents.”
To assist maintain on your own harmless and related to vital utilities, abide by these very simple secure digging ways in advance of your up coming undertaking:
1. A totally free, easy cell phone contact to 811, or a visit to www.811beforeyoudig.com to submit an on-line ask for, tends to make it simple for your regional just one simply call heart to notify appropriate utility businesses of your intent to dig. Get hold of 811 a several days prior to digging to guarantee adequate time for the approximate spot of utility traces to be marked with flags or paint.
2. Know where you plan to dig and have a primary concept of what you program to do. When you call 811, your nearby one simply call heart will ask you to provide the area and description of your digging challenge.
3. Your regional just one get in touch with heart will notify afflicted utility corporations, which will then mail experienced locators to the proposed dig web page to mark the approximate area of buried utility lines with colored flags and paint.
4: Hold out the needed sum of time for the lines to be marked. As soon as all lines have been accurately marked, cautiously dig all around the marked regions.
There are far more than 20 million miles of underground utility lines in the United States, which equates to additional than a soccer field’s size of utilities for each and every human being in the U.S. Your spouse and children is dependent on this buried infrastructure for your every day needs, which includes electrical, organic fuel, drinking water and sewer, cable Tv set, superior-speed internet and landline telephone. With that significantly important infrastructure underground, it’s crucial to know what’s underneath and contact 811 just before digging. To locate out more information and facts about harmless digging, such as hyperlinks to your neighborhood just one phone middle, pay a visit to www.811beforeyoudig.com.
