In observance of National Safe Digging Month in April, the Tennessee Public Utility Commission has announced results from
a recent national survey. The results revealed that 36 percent of homeowners who plan to dig this year for projects like landscaping, installing a fence or mailbox, or building a deck, pond or patio and other DIY projects, will put themselves and their communities at risk by not calling 811 a few days beforehand to learn the approximate location of underground utilities.
Digging without knowing the approximate location of underground utilities can result in serious injuries, service disruptions and costly repairs when gas, electric, communications, water and sewer lines are damaged.
The national public opinion survey of homeowners conducted in February by the Common Ground Alliance (CGA), the national association dedicated to protecting underground utility lines, people who dig near them, and their communities, also revealed that 47 percent of homeowners who plan to dig this year have no experience with the 811call before you dig process. The most popular planned projects cited among surveyed homeowners include:
· Planting a tree or shrub (63 percent)
· Building a fence (35 percent)
· Building a patio or deck (28 percent)
· Installing a mailbox (16 percent)
“Tens of millions of Americans plan to do DIY digging projects this year, but according to our survey, 36 percent of them admit that they will not call 811 beforehand, which puts
homeowners and their communities at risk,” said Chairman David Jones, Tennessee Tennessee Public Utility Commission. “Calling 811 a few days before any planned
home improvement projects that require digging –like installing a mailbox or planting a tree – is critical to preventing incidents like service outages and serious injuries.”
“Public safety and protecting our utility infrastructure are very important issues for me and the state legislature. That’s why I sponsored legislation establishing the Underground
Utility Damage Enforcement Board to protect Tennesseans as well as our underground utilities,” said State Representative Pat Marsh, Chairman of the House Business and Utilities Committee.
CGA’s 1,700 members, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and most governors have proclaimed April as National Safe Digging Month to bring extra attention to the issue of
underground utility line safety and reduce the risk of unnecessary infrastructure damage. As part of National Safe Digging Month, the Tennessee Public Utility Commission encourages homeowners to take the following steps when planning a digging project this spring:
Always call 811 a few days before digging, regardless of the depth or familiarity with the property.
Plan ahead. Call on Monday or Tuesday for work planned for an upcoming weekend, providing ample time for the approximate
location of lines to be marked.
· Confirm that all lines have been marked.
· Consider moving the location of your project if it is near utility line markings.
· If a contractor has been hired, confirm that a call to 811 has been made. Don’t allow work to begin if the lines aren’t marked.
· Visit www.call811.com for complete info.
An underground utility line is damaged once every nine minutes nationwide because someone decided to dig without first calling 811, according to industry data collected by CGA. 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.
CGA’s 1,700 members, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and most governors have proclaimed April as National Safe Digging Month to bring extra attention to the issue of underground utility line safety and reduce the risk of unnecessary infrastructure damage.
Everyone who calls 811 a few days before digging is connected to a local one call notification center that will take the caller’s information and communicate it to local utility companies. Professional locators will then visit the dig site to mark the approximate location of underground utility lines with spray paint, flags or both. Once a site has been accurately marked, it is safe to begin digging around the marked areas.
The mission of the Tennessee Public Utility Commission is to promote the public interest by balancing the interests of utility consumers and providers. For more information, visit online at www.tn.gov/tpuc.
