Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN):

Carson City: (775) 684-6100 Las Vegas: (702) 486-2600

puc.nv.gov

The property around your home has many buried utility lines which can be

dangerous if you don’t show appropriate care.

Prior to starting any excavation work around your home, you should

“Know What’s Below.”

PROTECT YOURSELF:Call Before You Dig

PROTECT AGAINST OVERMARKING

• When calling 811, be specific in describing the location where the work will occur

• Pre-mark your work area in white• Advise utilities to use stakes or ‘whiskers’

to reduce paint on the ground• Remember the person calling in the

‘Locate Request’ is responsible to remove all locate markings, not the utilities (that means you personally, or at your direction through the person or company you may have hired to do work).

WHAT IS 811? 811 is the national number designated by the Federal Communications Commission to help protect do-it-yourselfers, landscapers and contractors from unintentionally hitting underground utility lines while working on digging projects – large and small.

WHY CALL 811? Every digging project requires a call to 811. Hitting an underground utility line while digging can cause damage to the environment, serious personal injuries, disrupt service to an entire neighborhood and potentially incur fines and repair costs.

WHEN TO CALL 811? • Installing a rural-style mailbox• Putting in a fence• Planting trees or shrubs• Building a patio or deck• Excavating a new garden area These are a few common examples of when to call. You or your contractor should call at least two days before any digging project.

HOW DOES 811 WORK? One easy phone call to 811, at least two days prior to digging, starts the process of getting your underground utility lines marked for free.

When you call 811 from anywhere in the country, a representative from your local one call center will answer your call.

The representative will ask you for the location and description of your digging job, and will notify affected utility companies, who will then send a professional locator to the proposed dig site to mark the approximate location of your lines. Once your underground lines have been marked, you will know the approximate location of your utility lines and can dig safely.

WHAT IF I DON’T CALL? • In the United States, there is one

unintentional hit every three minutes, which can lead to injury, repair costs, fines and expensive and inconvenient outages.

• 37% of these incidents are caused due to a failure to call 811 before digging.

• Another 37% of incidents are caused due to not digging safely around the marks.

• Knowing approximately where underground utility lines are buried before each digging project helps to prevent these situations.

SPECIAL PRECAUTIONS

• Use caution when excavating around marked utility lines

• Never plant trees or other objects directly above buried utility lines

• Take caution when determining locations for driving tree stakes into the ground for tree support

• Take caution when installing concrete forms to avoid driving stakes through buried utilities

• If you have any questions regarding excavating around a utility line, contact the facility operator for instructions

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

• Contact the utility if you damage or make contact with a buried utility line

• If you break a natural gas line, move to a safe location, call 911 and your natural gas utility. Never attempt to control the gas flow or make repairs to gas or any utility line if damage occurs.