Local Pipeline Company Urges Homeowners, Businesses to Use Safe Digging Practices

National Safe Digging Month Highlights Importance of Dig Alert/811

Long Beach, CA – Crimson Pipeline is reminding Southern Californians that April is National Safe Digging Month. The local pipeline company is urging homeowners and businesses to learn more about the Underground Service Alert, also known as Dig Alert. This important and free service helps users determine the location of pipelines when undertaking any excavation project, regardless of size, to help prevent damage to pipelines, possible injury, and other property damage.

Highlighting the need to raise awareness about Dig Alert, a recent survey by the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) found 48 percent of American homeowners who plan to dig this year for projects that include landscaping, installing a fence or mailbox, or building a deck, pond or patio, will put themselves and communities at risk by not calling 811 to learn the approximate location of underground utilities.

Excavation, planting, demolition and other forms of digging are major causes of pipeline and utility damage. An underground utility line is damaged every eight minutes because someone decided to dig without first calling 811, according to the CGA. In recent years, more than a third of significant incidents involving oil pipelines have been caused by third party damage.  Many of these could have been avoided if the party doing the digging had called 811 to have the pipeline location properly marked.

“With miles and miles of unmarked utility lines running through our yards and streets, National Safe Digging Month is a great opportunity to remind everyone to be safe and always check where pipelines are located before digging. And it’s not just major construction projects that require a call to 811. Homeowners doing work around their property need to call too, even for simple projects like planting trees or building a fence,” said Larry Alexander, president of Crimson Pipeline. “It’s simple really – if you are going to put a shovel in the ground, call 811. It isn’t worth the risk not to.”

Pipelines can be located anywhere, including under streets or sidewalks, or in the front or back yards of private residences, sometimes just inches below the surface. That is why it is crucial pipelines are marked before a project that involves any type of digging begins.

Dig Alert can be reached from anywhere in the country by dialing 811 between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m., Monday through Friday (excluding holidays). An operator will collect all of the necessary information about the digging project and will coordinate with utility companies in the area to come to the proposed dig site and mark the locations of underground pipelines.  And, they do it for free. To utilize the service, businesses and homeowners should call Dig Alert at least two businesses days prior to digging.

Digging without first locating pipelines can result in disrupted utility service to an entire neighborhood, injuries and potentially result in fines and repair costs. Crimson Pipeline works year-round to ensure homeowners and businesses are aware of this service by engaging in public awareness programs and distributing 811 branded materials.