Spring is finally here, which means it’s time for outdoor projects! Before you reach for that shovel to start planting your favorite flowers, shrubs, and bushes, remember to call 811, the national call-before-you-dig number, to ensure that your buried utility lines are marked.

April is recognized as National Safe Digging Month to remind North Carolina residents about the complex underground infrastructure made up of pipelines, wires, and cables. Striking an underground utility line while digging can cause harm to you or those around you, disrupt services to entire neighborhoods and potentially result in fines and repair costs.

Every six minutes an underground utility line is damaged because someone decided to dig before calling 811. Don’t become a statistic. Simply place a call to 811 before every digging project, from simple landscape projects like planting shrubs to building a deck or even installing a mailbox.

Here’s how it works:

• One free, simple phone call to 811 makes it easy for the North Carolina 811 notification center (NC811) to notify all appropriate utility companies of your intent to dig. You can also visit www.nc811.org/single-address-ticket/ to submit a request to have your lines marked!
• Call or submit a ticket at least four days prior to digging to ensure enough time for utility lines to be properly marked.
• When you call 811, a representative from NC811 will ask for the location and description of your digging project.
• NC811 will notify all affected utility companies, who will then send a professional locator out to the proposed dig site to mark the approximate location of your lines.
• Once lines are marked, roll up those sleeves and carefully dig around the marked areas!

Your property’s underground lines will be marked with color-coded paint, stakes or flags (p.s. FOCUS Broadband’s lines will be marked orange). Once marked, be sure to avoid disturbing these markers and try to work around the location tolerance zone, which encompasses 24 inches on each side of the marked utility lines.

If you do accidentally hit an underground line, here’s what to do:

• Notify the facility owner directly. If you hit one of our communications lines, you can give us a call at 833-663-1241.
• Call 811 to file an underground facility damage report.
• If you hit a gas product line, immediately and safely relocate upwind away from the scene and dial 911 to report the incident.

To learn more about the 811 process in North Carolina, visit www.nc811.org/safe-digging-process/ or call 336-855-5760.