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| Safely Exposing Buried Utilities |
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| Review these tips with coworkers at your tailgate or toolbox meetings before work begins. This will help your crew avoid potential hazards when working near overhead and underground power lines. |
| Order our COMPLIMENTARY
worker safety training kit.
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| You’ve called 811, you’ve waited at least two full working days, and you’ve confirmed through DigAlert that all buried utility lines on your job site have been located and marked. Now you can use your mechanized equipment to begin excavating, right? |
| Not so fast. Locate marks are not precisely accurate and never indicate utility depth. Before you can safely cross or work close to an underground utility line with power digging equipment, you must see the line with your own eyes: |
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First, use only hand tools like shovels or other non-intrusive methods to expose the line. State law requires you to hand expose within 24 inches on either side of the outside diameter of a marked utility line so you know its exact location and depth. |
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Then, and only then, can you begin power digging. Be sure to work with a spotter whose only job is to keep mechanized digging equipment away from buried facilities. |
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| Hand Dig with Care |
| Take care to prevent damage by using a rounded or blunt-edged shovel--and be sure you use a fiberglass-handled shovel when digging around buried electric lines (fiberglass-insulated shovels will resist the flow of electricity in the event that you contact a power line). Never use sharp tools like pickaxes, mattocks, pry bars or pointed spades, which may gouge or puncture utilities. |
| Begin digging off to the side of the marked utility line. Use a gentle, prying motion to break away soil as you approach the line laterally. Never pry against a utility line to remove soil, stab at the soil, or stomp on the shovel with both feet. |
| Report All Damage |
| Even a slight gouge, scrape or dent to a utility line conduit or its coating may interrupt service or cause a hazard. Protect all exposed utility lines and check them regularly for damage. Before you backfill, check them again. If you contact an underground power line, report it to us, so our crews can inspect the line and make the necessary repairs. |
| Would You Like to Know More? |
| More electrical safety tips, instructional videos and training tools can all be found, at no charge to you, at sce.com/safetyonthejob. |
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