811 Day reminds North Carolinians to call before digging

LELAND, N.C. (WWAY) — Before starting an outdoor project, utility safety officials are reminding residents to check what may be underground.

Aug. 11 is 811 Day, a nationwide reminder to contact 811 before digging to help prevent injuries, service disruptions and costly damage to underground utility lines.

“For every digging project that you have no matter how big or small it starts with a free call or online request to 811,” said Steven Moore, a media relations specialist.

Moore said the reminder applies even to relatively small projects, such as planting a tree, installing a mailbox or putting up a fence.

“Most lines for power and guess and what not, those meters are already right there at the house. Submit a locate request and do that before you start your digging project,” Moore said.

Once someone contacts 811, utility operators are notified and can mark publicly managed underground lines with color-coded flags or paint.

“So yellow will be gas and red will be electric and orange will be telecommunication lines and so on. So just got to make sure that you have all those marks on the ground,” Moore said.

Not every underground line is covered by an 811 request.

Lines on private property between a utility meter and a home, including some water or sewer lines, may be considered private and require a separate private utility locator.

“Those kinds of lines need to be marked by a private line utility and those actually do cost you something whereas 8-1-1 we mark all the publicly managed lines and that doesn’t cost you a dime,” Moore said.

Once lines are marked, Moore said residents should respect the markings and dig carefully around them.

“Be on either side of the mark on the ground and you want to make sure if you’re digging anywhere in that area that you dig very carefully, hand dig, and don’t use any mechanized equipment because you might actually hit something in that area because it’s notifying you that hey there’s a line down there you got to be careful,” Moore said.

Moore said contacting 811 before digging is a simple step that could prevent a serious accident.

“Know what’s below, contact 811 before you dig, it’s free, it’s easy, and it can prevent injuries, service disruptions, expensive damages, and it could save your life,” Moore said.

Free online training is also available to the public through the NC Pipes Plus website.