Call Before You Dig

Gearing up to finish last minute fall chores can mean digging in new fence posts, trenching in a water line, moving a bush or shrub using a backhoe, installing a sprinkler system, or any one of a dozen tasks that mean digging a hole of one sort or another. Both Montana and North Dakota law states that any kind of digging requires location of underground utilities prior to taking that first shovelful of earth. This includes people using any type of tool, equipment, or explosive while grading, trenching, digging, ditching, augering, scraping, or doing any other activity that moves earth, rock, or other material in the ground. People planning to dig or excavate can get the location of underground utilities for free simply by calling 811, the call before you dig number. Failure to phone in ahead of time to locate buried utilities can result in injury, disrupted services, or even death, as buried facilities continue to increase in number every year.

“811 is a great thing because there is so much that is buried underground now,” says Lower Yellowstone Rural Electric Association (LYREA) General Manager Don Prevost. “There are a lot of buried utilities out there and no one person knows where they all are.”

He adds, “It’s taken awhile for the lay person to get used to this. Rural folks often don’t think about the potential for hitting buried utilities and they dig without having a locate done first.”

Call before you dig applies to contractors as well as to private individuals. LYREA always calls in a locate prior to beginning a job. “LYREA, along with every other business or individual who needs to excavate, has to call in a locate, no matter what the job,” Prevost remarks. “We know where our own lines are, but we have no idea what else is out there. Even in an emergency when the power is out, we have to wait for the locators before we can begin to repair. This is why it sometimes takes awhile to get an underground fault fixed.”

Failure to locate underground utilities, particularly gas lines, has resulted in spectacular accidents. Prevost has never witnessed a horrific accident, but LYREA has encountered problems with severed electrical lines. “We’ve had people cut our cables, and the electricity then goes to ground and knocks the power off,” he remarks. “People using hand held tools like shovels or post hole diggers, as well as those using heavy equipment can hit something that sparks a gas line. This is one big reason why people need to locate all underground facilities prior to digging.”

He adds, “LYREA crews are always very careful, but we’ve had a few close calls. I’ve also seen pictures after someone has hit a gas line and these are always terrible.”

In Montana, a person can dig 18 inches or further from the locator mark. If for some reason a person has to dig inside the 18 inch tolerance range, Prevost offers some advice. “People need to dig by hand if they have to get closer,” he comments. “For instance if they are pulling pipe or doing something else that requires them to dig inside the 18 inch line, do it by hand, slowly and very carefully.”

He adds, “We also can disconnect electrical lines if someone needs to dig closer to our buried lines. People can contact us and we will disconnect power while they dig.”

Locate markers are only valid for 30 days. If a person does not complete the job in that time period, he or she must request a new locate. “Flags and markers aren’t permanent,” Prevost explains. “Cattle will pull out the flags and other markers will disappear over time. People have to relocate the lines with visible markers. There’s just too much out there and if a line is cut, it can hurt a lot of people.”

It is easy to make the call before you dig phone call. People requesting a locate must give their name, address, phone number, and the type of work planned at the locate site. Locators from the utility companies involved then come and mark the specified location, letting excavators know the location of every buried utility on the work site.

Flag color indicates the utility involved. White flags or markers mark the proposed digging site. Red flags or markers show buried electrical lines, yellow flags and markers indicate gas and oil lines, orange marks communications locations, blue and purple indicate water lines, and green flags show where sewers and drains lie.

It takes 48 hours under normal situations for locators to complete their job of marking buried utilities. Even if a person has located underground facilities before and thinks he knows the locations, he must STILL phone ahead and have the work site plainly marked before he can begin to dig. Be safe, request a locate every time you plan to dig, even if it is just putting in fence posts.