On National 811 Day, August 11, PSEG Long Island is reminding customers to call 811 before starting any improvement project that involves digging.
Hitting a buried electric, gas, water or cable line while digging can disrupt utility service, cost money to repair, and even cause severe injury or death, PSEG Long Island advises. But a call to 811, the designated national dialing code to have underground lines located and marked out before any excavation work, is free.
The 811 Call Center will collect information about a caller’s upcoming digging project and pass that information to utility companies, which send representatives to mark the locations of underground lines with flags, paint or both.
Calls to 811 should be made at least two and not more than 10 business days before work begins, for any size digging project, from something as big as installing a pool to as small as digging a flowerbed or installing a mailbox or fence, according to PSEG Long Island.
“A free call to 811 before digging keeps our customers safe and protects underground lines, which helps ensure excellent reliability across Long Island and the Rockaways. It also keeps your project from getting delayed or derailed while companies repair damaged underground lines,” said Michael Sullivan, vice president of Transmission and Distribution at PSEG Long Island. “It’s the smart thing to do, and it’s also the law. So far this year, we have had nearly 130,000 calls to 811 for electric markouts in our area.”
Underground utility mark-out work is performed entirely outdoors and there is no need for any interaction with the technicians, the utility noted.
Various colors are used when marking lines; to learn what each color represents, visit call811.com.
If electrical equipment is damaged during a dig, call PSEG Long Island’s electric service emergency line at 800-490-0075. If gas piping is damaged or gas can be smelled when excavating, stop immediately and call National Grid’s gas emergency line at 800-490-0045.
Staff Writer on Aug 9, 2022