Outdoor Improvement Project Safety Means Call 8-1-1 Before You Dig
One Call: It’s Easy, Simple, Fast, Free – And It’s the Law
The most important piece of power equipment this fall for everyone - from construction contractors to municipal excavators and landscapers to homeowners - isn’t a backhoe, auger, bulldozer or grader.
The most important power tool this fall is the telephone and the easy-to-remember, toll-free, one-stop number 811. That’s the nationwide One-Call Notification System’s phone number – 811 – the one number you Call Before You Dig.
By calling 8-1-1 before you dig, you’ll make sure utility representatives can identify for you the facilities they own and operate. That way, your digging does not strike any underground natural gas lines, electric cables, phone lines or water and sewer pipes or other utility infrastructures.
Anyone who damages underground facilities because they did not follow the 8-1-1 regulations and calls at least 2 to 10 working days before starting work are subject to hefty fines and repair costs. And, the risk of a dangerous, even fatal, accident is all-too real if you hit an underground electric or natural gas line.
Two O&R damage prevention technicians team up to locate and mark out underground O&R gas and electric facilities at a home in Nanuet. In the foreground James Misczuk uses a radio detection receiver to Iocate O&R underground gas facilities while J.D. Gallo follows to mark the locations with paint and flags. This procedure warns excavators to avoid digging near the facilities.
The “Call 8-1-1 Before You Dig” program notifies O&R of the proposed work site so its qualified technician can locate, mark and identify utility-owned equipment with stakes, flags or paint to clearly mark areas to avoid. It’s easy, simple, fast, free --- and it’s the law.
If you see an active excavation site or digging project, but you don’t see flags or painted markings, please call O&R at 1-877-434-4100 and report the location.
If you smell gas, immediately leave the area and call 911, O&R’s Gas Emergency Hotline at 1-800-533-LEAK (1-800-533-5325), or your local gas utility. You can report gas leaks anonymously.
For more details about working safely around O&R’s underground and overhead equipment, see our Web site at www.oru.com/811 For more information about the 811 One-Call Notification System, visit the www.call811.com website.
Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R), a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies, is a regulated utility. O&R provides electric service to approximately 300,000 customers in southeastern New York State (where its franchise name is Orange & Rockland) and northern New Jersey (where it’s Rockland Electric Company) and natural gas service to approximately 130,000 customers in New York.