Stay safe while excavating - call before you dig
4/15/2009 10:02:00 AM
LEXINGTON, Ky. – April 15, 2009 – Warmer temperatures are finally here and that means gardeners, landscape companies and building contractors are hard at work. All too often, however, those professional excavators and weekend warriors put themselves and others in danger by digging near unmarked natural gas lines and other types of buried utility lines. April 2009 is National Safe Digging Month and Columbia Gas of Kentucky is reminding customers and contractors to “call before you dig.”
By simply calling 811, callers will connect to Kentucky 811 which coordinates locate requests for member utility companies at no charge to callers.
Last year in Kentucky, Columbia Gas responded to approximately 250 calls for broken natural gas service lines and main lines. “About 44 percent of the line breaks we respond to are the result of excavators not calling to have underground lines located prior to beginning their work,” said Dave Mueller, Columbia Gas of Kentucky operations center manager. “Digging into underground utility lines can be dangerous,” Mueller said. “And with a free location service available, there is no reason for anyone to take a chance on hitting a gas line.”
While safety is the number one reason to have utility lines located before digging, line breaks are costly too. According to Mueller, excavators who don’t request utilities be marked and then break a natural gas line are financially responsible for repairs and re-establishing service to affected customers. When those repair costs are combined with the time delay on the project, the financial impact of a line break on a business or individual property owner can be significant.
Anyone planning to dig should call the Kentucky 811 at least two business days, but not more than 10 business days, prior to beginning work. Once the call is made, member utility companies of Kentucky 811 in the area of the excavation are notified, and each utility marks its lines.
Although most utility companies are members of Kentucky 811, some are not. Those companies that are not members must be contacted directly for line markings. Kentucky 811 operators can provide callers with a list of utility companies in their area that are members of their organization and a list is provided on the organization’s web site at www.kentucky811.org.
For more information about utility line marking or to make a locate request, contact Kentucky811 at 811 or 800-752-6007, or visit www.kentucky811.org.
About Columbia Gas of Kentucky
Columbia Gas of Kentucky, headquartered in Lexington, is one of the nine energy distribution companies of NiSource Inc. (NYSE: NI), a Fortune 500 company engaged in natural gas transmission, storage and distribution, as well as electric generation, transmission and distribution. Columbia Gas of Kentucky serves approximately 140,000 customers in 31 Kentucky counties. NiSource operating companies deliver energy to 3.8 million customers located within the high-demand energy corridor stretching from the Gulf Coast through the Midwest to New England. More information about Columbia Gas of Kentucky is available at www.columbiagasky.com. More information about NiSource and its other subsidiaries is available at www.nisource.com.
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