Hero
811 Call before you dig
Know the dangers
If you don’t notify 811 before digging, you risk contacting a buried utility line. Hitting a buried electric line can cause outages and serious shock injuries or fatalities. And hitting a gas line can lead to a fire or explosion. You can avoid property damage, personal injury and possible fines and repair costs by notifying the 811 service before you start to dig. Even small digging jobs require this.
Play it safe
Follow these seven steps for safe excavation:
1. Plan your job and pre-mark your dig area with white paint, flags and/or stakes.
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Would you like to know more?
Additional overhead and digging guidelines, emergency procedures, case studies, instructional videos and training tools can all be found, at no charge to you, on Xcel Energy's e-SMARTworkers website.
COVID-19
Everyone's resources have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. You can help prevent located delays by pre-marking your proposed dig area in white and notifying 811 of your planned excavation with as much lead time as is possible in your state.

To learn more about Xcel Energy’s response to COVID-19, click here.
*To reach your state's underground utility locate service/one-call center, call 811 or visit their online site by clicking on your state's name below.
The required "business day" wait time for each state is as follows (excludes weekends and legal holidays):
 
 
811 Konw what’s below. | Call before you dig.
 
GOLD SHOVEL STANDARD CERTIFIED
Xcel Energy is a founding member of the Gold Shovel Standard, which is a first-of-its-kind, two-part excavation safety program. The program both certifies an excavator's policies and procedures against the Gold Shovel Standard, and publishes a score or rating, known as an EICO™ score, which is an ongoing measure of an excavator's excavation-safety worthiness. It is a novel and ambitious program on a North American scale to dramatically reduce damages from excavation to buried asset networks. To find out more about the Gold Shovel Standard, please visit goldshovelstandard.org/industry/excavators.