Puget Sound Energy advises ‘Call 811 Before You Dig’

Puget Sound Energy encourages everyone to remember the date 8/11 (or Aug. 11), to serve as a useful reminder to contact the 811 “Call Before You Dig” hotline to schedule a free utility locator service to mark underground utility lines before beginning any work that involves digging, such as building a new fence or deck, planting trees and shrubs, or even pulling out a tree stump.

August 10, 2010 3:45 pm

Puget Sound Energy encourages everyone to remember the date 8/11 (or Aug. 11), to serve as a useful reminder to contact the 811 “Call Before You Dig” hotline to schedule a free utility locator service to mark underground utility lines before beginning any work that involves digging, such as building a new fence or deck, planting trees and shrubs, or even pulling out a tree stump.

Residents and excavators should call the 811 service two business days before they dig to help avoid potential hazards with striking or damaging underground utility lines.

“Our underground utility lines are struck approximately four times a day, on average, with a significant amount of the damage to our natural gas and electric systems resulting from not calling 811 before digging,” said Sue McLain, senior vice president of operations for Puget Sound Energy.

“We encourage residents and excavators to call 811 prior to starting any digging project. Any scratch, dent or gouge to a natural gas pipe or nick to an underground electric line could become a real-time safety hazard, or, at a minimum, require expensive and time-consuming repairs.”

In 2009, PSE experienced 1,031 incidents related to accidental dig-ups of the utility’s 24,000 miles of underground natural gas lines and 481 incidents involving the utility’s 10,000 miles of buried power lines, down 25 percent from a total of 1,977 combined incidents in 2008. More than one-third of the damage to PSE’s underground natural gas lines was caused by residents, contractors and other excavators who failed to call 811 to have the underground utility lines marked.

Nationwide, an underground utility is damaged during digging projects once every three minutes, according to a recent report by Common Ground Alliance.

PSE advises anyone who may have damaged natural gas pipes or electric systems, or who smells the odor of natural gas, to take these steps:

• Quickly move a safe distance from the damaged line.

• Call 911 after reaching a safe distance.

• Report the damage to PSE at 1-888-225-5773.

For more information about “Call 811 Before You Dig,” visit www.Call811.com.