Rockland Electric Marks National 811 Day; Urges You to Call 8-1-1 Before You Dig
It Protects the Public, Diggers and Utilities From Damage. And, It’s the Law
Rockland Electric Company, and the nation’s other utilities who operate facilities and equipment underground, mark Thursday, 8/11 as National 811 Day to remind all professional excavators and Do It Yourselfers (DIY) to call 811 to place an underground utility location request for their digging projects in New Jersey.
Calling 811 automatically connects diggers to New Jersey One Call, which provides a link between diggers and the underground utility operators. Placing a location request by calling 811 is the first step in a safe digging project.
Location requests should be made at least three full business days (excluding weekends and holidays), but not more than 10 days, before beginning an excavation project.
Rockland Electric Company is an electric utility that serves 73,000 customers in parts of Bergen, Passaic and Sussex County in New Jersey. Rockland Electric is a wholly owned subsidiary of Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R), which in turn is owned by Consolidated Edison, Inc.
Two Rockland Electric Company damage prevention technicians team up to locate and mark out underground utility company facilities at a customer’s home in this 2021 photo. In the foreground, a senior damage prevention technician uses a radio detection receiver to Iocate underground facilities while his associate double-checks the underground map of the facilities on a digital tablet. The locations with be marked with paint and flags. This procedure warns excavators to avoid digging near the facilities to help prevent damage.
Here’s how the underground location request system works:
After a location request is placed, the New Jersey One Call organization processes and transmits the information to the local underground utility operators who are responsible for marking out the approximate location of any underground public utilities in the dig area.
“Whether you are a homeowner doing a backyard digging project for the first time, or a professional excavator with years of experience, placing a location request by calling 811 at least three days before beginning your digging project in New Jersey is essential,” said Rockland Electric Company Field Operations Planner Dan Fitzpatrick.
He added, “Digging without placing a location request dramatically increases your risk of causing damage to underground utilities.”
Excavators who damage underground facilities because they did not follow the state regulations and damage utility equipment are subject to hefty fines and repair costs.
If you smell gas, immediately leave the area and call 911, or your local gas utility. You can report gas leaks anonymously.
About Orange and Rockland
Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies. O&R is a regulated utility that 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. The company does not provide natural gas service in New Jersey.