Dig Safe

[edt]

Question ?? Do any of you use dig safe? In my area in N.H also in MA. RI. VT. ME. it's a free service you call when digging they give location of dig to local utilities companies. and the companies have some time too mark their lines in the dig area. I was asked too dig an electrical line in MA. owner has only been in house for 1 1/2 years wasn't sure of lines buried

 

[MChalkley]

They're a member of a large group of companies usually lumped under the term "One-Call" agencies. In VA, they fall under the Contractor Association's jurisdiction, and the specific agency is called "Miss Utility" in most areas of the state.

But, in answer to your question, I use the local equivalent to "Dig Safe" all the time. In fact, in VA, it's against the law not to, even on your own property, unless you know for a fact that you're on land you own and in an area with no recorded utility easements.

 

[EdKing]

We have a service here in PA called "One Call". I have used it with mixed results.

 

[rf33]

I would agree that they are a good resource to use, and will probably be able to get everything marked. I think that even though they make mistakes, at least if you call them, have everything marked, and then hit something they forgot to mark, you have a certain degree of deniability as to the damages done. Not sure if you actually have any less legal responsibility for such damages, but it certainly would be nice to be able to say "I called and they came out and marked everything, and I guess they missed this one" instead of "Well, how was I supposed to know there would be a fiber optic phone line buried here". When I used to drive a bobcat and trencher for a plumbing company, I quite often dug up stuff that these one-call people missed, including about a 3" bundle of fiber optic cable once. Boy were those Southwestern Bell repair guys angry about that one./w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif

 

[MChalkley]

In VA, if you don't call them, you're liable for the expense of repairing anything you hit and any subsequent damages, as well. If you call them and they fail to mark a line, or the mark is more than 3 feet off, you're not liable in any way.

Unless they're different in other areas, though, the "One-Call" company doesn't actually mark the lines - they coordinate with all the utilities to have their own people mark them. So, in your case, if SW Bell's fiber optic cable didn't get marked, they had no one to blame but themselves. I know for a fact that they're very touchy about those fiber optic cables. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Around here, it costs you $40 a pair to get them repaired if you hit one and it's your fault. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

 

[rf33]

Mark,

I am not sure who actually did the marking in this case, but I do know that it was not the repair guys they sent out to fix the lines. They might have been grumbling those obscenities/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif at the line marking guys from their own company, or at the one-call guys. Whoever they were angry with, I am just glad it was not me.

 

[MDSteve]

Here in MD we have Miss Utility. I called and no one came out. I called again and they said they couldn't find the house. I called again and they said they couldn't mark the property because they couldn't locate the house didn't want directions. Maybe it was the operators last day or something?

 

[MikePA]

When I had a guy put the drainage for my spouts underground, he would not dig with his backhoe until I called DigSafe.

 

[Bird]

Mark, I think each company used to send their own personnel out to mark the lines, but it's sure changed in the last 10 years. Our water company still sends their own people, but the phone company uses a contractor who does nothing but mark lines. And when I was doing the gas leakage surveys and the gas company had to have electric and/or phone lines marked before digging, it was sometimes the same individual (contractor) who marked both. I assume it's different in different parts of the country.

And I had to do a lot of "probing" (usually about 18" deep) with a 5/8" steel rod and slide hammer affair to "center" underground leaks; i.e., figure out the most likely spot to start digging, and my company told me to expect to break a phone line or electric line someday and to not worry about it; that's what our insurance is for./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif Well, as it turned out, I never broke one, but I knew of it happening to another employee on the same job I was working once.

Of course, the possibility of hitting an electric wire was the reason the slide hammer for punching holes had a rubber coated handle and the tip was ball shaped instead of pointed (might slide past a wire without breaking it), and the pickup tube, or probe, on the combustible gas indicator was fiberglass instead of metal./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[edt]

Thanks all I know it's the law here also better safe than sorry happy digging
edt