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| Safely Exposing Buried Utilities |
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| You've called 811, you've waited at least three business days and you're sure 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. |
Order our COMPLIMENTARY worker safety
kit on the PPL Electric Utilities
e-SMARTworkers website. |
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| Buried power lines and other facilities can be easily damaged and are dangerous to contact. Before you can safely work close to an underground utility line with mechanized digging equipment, you must see the line with your own eyes: |
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First, use only hand tools, like shovels, or other nonintrusive methods to expose the line. You must hand expose within the "tolerance zone," a safety area that spans the width of a marked utility plus 18 inches from each indicated outside edge in Pennsylvania. |
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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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| Always contact www.pa1call.org before digging and for the most current requirements. |
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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 shovel when digging around buried electric lines. Never use sharp tools like pickaxes, mattocks, pry bars or pointed spades, which may gouge or puncture utilities.
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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 or its coating may interrupt service or cause a hazard. Contact with a gas pipeline may not be immediately dangerous but may lead to leaks, fire or explosions later. Protect all exposed utility lines and check them regularly for damage. Before you backfill, check them again. If you contact a utility line, report it to us immediately so that our crews can inspect the line and make the necessary repairs. (If gas is leaking, the law requires that you call 911.) |
| Would You Like to Know More? |
| Additional utility safety tips, case studies, instructional videos and educational tools can all be found, at no charge to you, on PPL Electric Utilities' website. |
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