Call Before You Dig....

[digger242j]

Technically, he's responsible for everything from the surface down, and required to get a locate. Now, whoever did the locate was obviously clueless to have missed the fact that there was supposed to be a hydrant there, and it wasn't.


He actually did the city, the homeowner, and the neighborhood a favor. WHAT IF THERE HAD BEEN A FIRE?? No fire hydrant, and the house burns down. The landscaper needs to be in jail...

 

[Steve Frazier]

In my case the homeowner went to bat for me. He had just paid megabucks for his home and was not happy to learn of how his phone line was installed. I don't know who ended up paying for the repair, but it wasn't me. It probably was the General Contractor for the subdivision project.

In your case, if they can prove the landscaper covered the hydrant I would imagine he will be facing charges, possibly even criminal charges. That's a serious matter.

As for the damage, I'm afraid it will come down on your friend. Push come to shove, I would have been responsible for the damage to the phone line in the end had the homeowner not stepped in. These mark out laws only seem to reduce the chance of damage, not absolve anyone of responsibility.

 

[Countryboy]

Well he does have the homeowner and the builder on his side. The builder was the one who subbed out the landscaping to the landscaper and the lady who bought the house is not happy either.

I checked my hydrant map today. Funny thing is that the hydrant was marked on the map but my fire dept. had not done their quarterly hydrant inspection yet. Seems the landscaper had covered the hydrant about a week after the last inspection and the next inspection is actually due in about 15 days. I'm glad I don't have that luck.

I told him he should of let me check my hydrant map before he started digging.....:bouncegri

I also went to the Sheriff's Office and filed a report per department regulations for "criminal negligence with the intent to harm" against the landscaper. That's the charge you get for intentionally damaging hydrants.

I think the blame is now swinging the other way.:yup We will find out Monday.

 

[LowBoy]

Glad I live & work out in the bushes...

All this talk about gas lines, water mains, sewers, fiber optical illusions, etc. is giving me the heebie-jeebies.

I've been digging eastern Rennselaer County, NY and southwestern Vermont since 1991, and the only thing I've hit so far is a multi-pair phone line that was called upon (to DigSafe,) by me and given clearance. I was 6 feet down in behind a restaurant, digging in fill that was trucked in who knows how long ago, when I noticed something moving funny down in the hole. It was a main line for the phone company, about 50 pairs in diameter. Uh Oh... I took a look around, went to my truck and got 2 rolls of 3M tape and started twistin' & tapin'...That was in 1994, and other than a conversation I overheard in the local-yokel diner one morning soon after that incident that this guy's phone seemed to be a little "crackly" lately, I never heard another thing.:yup

Since then, I've found some old drywells, a couple of cars, and lots of boulders the size of a small house. A month ago I rented a little 305 Cat excavator to replace my personal septic tank with a new polyethelene one, because the original 500 gal. steel one was discinagrated. As the plastic one is much bigger, I had to make a bigger hole, and wouldn't you know, a boulder that is the same size as the new tank, right in line with the whole deal.The little 305 worked it's little tail off, couldn't pull it out, so I had to dig around it, flip it in the hole, repeat, etc. until I finally got it out. Now it is a lawn ornament out back, as I pushed it about 50 feet away, and now "Pouncer" the 1/2 beagle, 1/2 shepard 1 yr. old wonderdog has a 3-5 ton perch to sit up on now to get a better view...

That was a lot of work just to give Pouncer a place to sit, but the moral to the story is...If that's as bad as it gets, I'm doing O.K....:thumbsup

Just to mention, I lived in the "city" before this, and worked in all those conditions too, so this is like a vacation that never ends.

 

[greywynd]

I'm fairly fortunate here too, mostly rural work, biggest thing I have to watch out for is septic systems.....and darned if I can find any locate service for them yet. Phone here I don't get too worried about, generally you know if you're near it, and if you hit it, well.....there's always some extra line and tape behind the seat of the truck. Splice it up, and in a year or two when the static gets bad, the phone company just runs a new line anyway.

We do get some work around gas lines, almost always residential feeds. I always have these located....and anything else at the same time. I actually have a sheet made up with the list of appropriate numbers, and leave the responsibility up to the home owner....I'll tell them the dates I plan on doing the job, and they can call for the locate. If it's not done, I generally call the owner the day before) I do something else....the owner now gets put at the bottom of the list for their job.

Since I do a lot of small jobs, I sometimes will do 2-3 different jobs in a day. (My record was 5, all sono tube holes for decks for different people With my minimum charge, I made about 18 hours pay in 10-11 hours that day.) When you're working in so many different places, it's impossible to watch out for all the underground hazards. I have actually been digging at places while the locate service was there, basically 'followed' them as they gave marked things out in the area we were digging in, I was loading the excavator before he was finished packing up and doing paperwork.

Mark

 

[dayexco]

in south dakota, if you start digging before the locates have been made, you are first issued a written warning from the one call board of directors. the 2nd time, they fine you $500.

 

[jimsbcs]

I live in rural northwestern North Dakota, farms and oil wells. I wouldn't dig anything without doing the one call. Which has to be called in 48 buisness hrs. before any digging. and is only good for 72 hrs. after its marked. You would not believe all the fiberglass. plastic and old steel gas, flow lines, oil lines, etc around this part of ND.
Last year I put up a new shop in my yard, did one call and discovered a 6"-1300# gas lift line (from 1950's)underneath my garage (which was still live) that the previous owner had put up 12 years earlier! The line has been removed from service now. One call has only been going on around here since late 90's
Ps I live way out in the open country 10 miles from neariest town. I have lines all around my house.
I get lots of people wanting post holes or water lines dug on their farms and I say as soon as the one call is done, I will be there.
I really like the one call system, Jim