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Summer has arrived and many Northwest contractors and landscapers are undertaking a higher volume of outdoor digging or excavation projects. NW Natural would like to emphasize the importance of calling 811 to locate underground utility lines at least two business days ahead of the start of any project that involves digging. It鈥檚 the law, it鈥檚 free, and it鈥檚 the only way to know for sure where underground utilities lie on a property.

If a contractor or homeowner damages underground utility lines, there is a high likelihood the party did not call 811 to request location services. In fact, about 40 percent of damages to NW Natural facilities are a result of contractor or homeowner failure to call 811. In Oregon and Southwest Washington, NW Natural last year responded to 639 cases in its service territory where gas lines were contacted unexpectedly or damaged. Of those, more than 500 involved a broken line with escaping natural gas.

In addition to safety risks, contractors face financial risks if utility line locations are not requested for digging projects. Contractors digging without a valid location ticket are responsible for repair costs. They may also be reported to the Oregon or Washington public utility commissions and OSHA for failing to follow state dig laws, as well as subject to regulatory and OSHA fines, and may have their contractors鈥� license suspended.

Damage to underground utility lines is preventable. Along with calling 811, the process of requesting a location is easier than ever with the Online Locate Request tool. This is a creation of the , a state agency responsible for protecting excavators, the public, and underground utilities from damages. The tool is available at: .

NW Natural also has a team of employees who are dedicated to educating contractors and residents alike in damage prevention efforts. With the launch of our formal damage prevention program in 2006, we have reduced damages by about 70 percent over the past 15 years. Last year, NW Natural became the first Oregon-based gas distribution utility to earn a for its commitment to continuous damage prevention improvement. Gold Shovel Association is a national nonprofit focused on improving safety by providing meaningful damage prevention certifications and standardized performance metrics.

Still, there is plenty of work to do. A recent national public opinion survey of homeowners conducted by Common Ground Alliance, a national partnership of utility providers, revealed 58 percent of U.S. homeowners plan to complete a home improvement project involving digging in the next 12 months. Of that number, 49 percent will unknowingly take a risk by not contacting 811 beforehand.

The cost of this failure is enormous. The most recent , released in 2020 by Common Ground Alliance, found that in 2019 wayward excavation caused more than $30 billion in damage to utility infrastructure across the U.S. Failure to request location service was identified as the single biggest cause of damage incidents.

It鈥檚 important to remember that all contractors are required to request utility location service in any instance where they plan to dig, regardless of depth. This is especially important when considering natural gas lines, which can be installed no more than 18 inches deep. The 2020 DIRT report revealed that roughly 87,000 damage incidents in the U.S. involved natural gas lines, second only to telecommunications facilities.

If all else fails, report damages immediately by calling NW Natural at 800-882-3377. No damage is too small to report, including gouges, scrapes and dents. If you smell natural gas while you鈥檙e digging, leave the area and then call 911 and NW Natural to report the leak.

The easiest and free way to avoid dig-related damage is to help your clients, and yourself, by calling 811 to request location service ahead of time. For more information, visit .

Jaimie Lemke is NW Natural鈥檚 damage prevention supervisor. Contact her at 503-610-7639 or [email protected].

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in the preceding commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Daily Journal of Commerce or its editors. Neither the author nor the 91视频 guarantees the accuracy or completeness of any information published herein.