On 8/11 and throughout the year, the Carolinas AGC urges contractors to call 811 before digging—a free call that essentially saves time, money, and most of all, lives. “By calling 811 before digging on a project site, utility owners and operators can accurately locate their facilities to eliminate the risk of striking an underground utility line,” said Allen Gray, Utility Division Director for Carolinas AGC. “It really is the only way to know which utilities are buried in your area of excavation.”
When calling 811, contractors in the Carolinas are connected to either South Carolina 811 or North Carolina 811, the local one-call centers, which then notify the appropriate utility companies. Utility owners and operators then respond by having their lines marked in the area of proposed excavation. This process is a shared responsibility with excavators, utility owners and operators, and one call centers working together to ensure public and workforce safety, as well as the integrity of vital facilities.
Every digging project, no matter how large or small, warrants a call to 811 before beginning a project. This comes on the heels of a recent report by the Common Ground Alliance, which determined that nationwide an underground utility line is damaged during digging every three minutes. Read More.