A national safety campaign is reminding property owners and contractors to call 811 before starting any digging project. August 11 marks National 811 Day, an effort to increase awareness about the risks of damaging underground utility lines during activities such as building fences, landscaping, or construction.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) reported that so far this year in its Northern and Central California service area, there have been 471 incidents where underground gas and electric lines were damaged by digging. In 59% of those cases, the required call to 811 was not made beforehand. For residential customers, the rate was even higher, with 90% failing to call before beginning work.
The average repair cost for striking an underground line is $3,500. Calling 811 is free and brings a professional locator to the site to mark gas, electric, water, telecom, and sewer lines prior to digging.
“By making a fast and free call to 811, utility professionals will come to your home or job site and mark the location of underground lines so that you can dig safely and avoid expensive repairs. Know what’s below before you start any size digging project, whether you are planting, landscaping, or doing fence work and call 811 two days before you dig,” said PG&E Damage Prevention Director Mitch Smith.
PG&E serves more than 16 million people across a territory of about 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. More information can be found at https://www.pge.com/ and https://www.pge.com/news/.
Additional details on National 811 Day can be accessed at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/august-11-is-national-811-daya-reminder-to-call-811-before-any-digging-project-large-or-small-302525071.html.
