The Hidden Dangers Beneath Your Feet: Why Homeowners Pay Thousands for Underground Utility Mistakes
Every six minutes in America, someone strikes an underground utility line because they decided to dig without knowing what lay beneath their property. According to the Common Ground Alliance, an underground utility line is damaged once every 6 minutes nationwide because someone decided to dig without knowing the location of their lines. What starts as a simple weekend project to install a fence, plant a tree, or build a deck can quickly turn into a costly nightmare involving emergency repairs, legal liability, and serious safety hazards.
The Invisible Network Beneath Your Property
There are more than 100 billion feet of underground utilities in the U.S., which means there’s over a football field’s length of line per person. Many various types of utilities are present, buried underneath our streets and roadways – Sanitary and storm sewers, underdrain, water, natural gas, oil, telephone, fiber optic, cable television, traffic signal, electric power, process piping, steam lines and more. This vast underground infrastructure powers our homes, delivers clean water, removes waste, and keeps us connected to the digital world.
The challenge for homeowners is that utility companies and municipalities often, but not always, have maps; however, these maps frequently are not to scale, only indicate approximate locations, and are sometimes incomplete or even incorrect. This means that even with available records, the exact location of utilities can be uncertain, making any excavation potentially hazardous.
The Most Dangerous and Costly Mistakes Homeowners Make
Skipping the 811 Call
The most critical mistake homeowners make is failing to call before they dig. As many as 25% of all utility damages are due to no notice to utilities. Not only contractors, but homeowners (or anybody else expecting to dig beyond the top soil layer), are required to contact the local One-Call organization and have the area marked-out before digging.
Since 2007, there has been a universal N11 phone number for getting in touch with one of the 71 regional services that coordinate underground public utility locations—but instead of finding the contact information for each utility, you can now simply dial 8-1-1. Calling 811 is said to reduce your chance of striking a buried utility to less than 1%.
Assuming “Small Projects” Are Safe
While these mistakes are often caused by large excavation projects, a simple mailbox installation or even a small gardening project can lead to striking utility lines you didn’t realize were there. Homeowners often assume that shallow digging for landscaping or minor installations won’t reach utility lines, but as weather conditions and temperatures change, the ground settles and expands. This settling and expanding can also change the depth and location of the utility lines going to your home.
Using the Wrong Tools and Techniques
Even when utilities are marked, homeowners often make dangerous excavation choices. Spades and shovels are less likely to pierce cables than picks, forks or other sharp tools. Always use insulated tools and equipment when digging close to underground electrical services. Do not use mechanical equipment within 1 metre of underground utility lines.
The Life-Threatening Consequences
The dangers of hitting underground utilities extend far beyond property damage. One of the most significant risks of digging near underground utilities is causing a gas leak. Striking a gas pipeline can release natural gas into the air, creating a severe explosion hazard or causing asphyxiation to workers in confined spaces. Striking a gas pipeline could result in fires or toxic gas leaks, while damaging electrical lines poses a fatal risk to workers.
Water and sewage lines pose another risk when digging. Encountering these lines can lead to soil and water supply contamination and pose a serious health risk to nearby communities. The cleanup and restoration costs for contaminated soil and groundwater can reach tens of thousands of dollars.
The Financial Impact
In addition to the physical dangers of excavating near underground systems, there are also financial and legal risks. Damaging utility infrastructure can lead to costly repairs and potential penalties, not to mention interruptions to essential services like power, water, and communication lines. If a utility line is damaged you will likely experience an outage to your service and repairs can be time consuming and expensive, and under Ontario regulations, you could be held liable for all of it.
Emergency repairs to damaged gas lines can cost $10,000 or more, while fiber optic cable damage can result in liability for lost business revenue in entire neighborhoods. The financial responsibility doesn’t end with the immediate repair—homeowners may face ongoing legal liability for service disruptions and property damage to neighbors.
How Professional Excavating Contractors Prevent These Disasters
Professional Excavating Contractors understand that proper utility location and safe excavation practices are fundamental to any successful project. They follow established protocols that include comprehensive site evaluation, proper use of detection equipment, and adherence to safety regulations.
MPL’s skilled technicians use state-of-the-art tools, including electromagnetic scanners and ground-penetrating radar (GPR), for accurate and reliable locating. These precise markings provide the confidence to move forward safely and efficiently, ensuring compliance with regulations and avoiding costly mistakes.
Once marked-out, it is up to the excavator to safely uncover the underground utility, either by hand digging or vacuum excavation, physically (“positively”) locating it before starting to dig with mechanical construction equipment. Professional contractors also understand when additional precautions are necessary, such as in the case of Transmission Lines, due to their large and often high-pressure flow, the Utility can require that their representative be present during any excavation activity.
Protecting Your Family and Investment
The key to avoiding underground utility disasters is preparation and professional expertise. For any project, get locates before you start digging. Even for seemingly minor projects, the cost of professional utility location and excavation services is minimal compared to the potential consequences of striking a utility line.
In addition to causing service outages or damage to the utilities, failing to properly prepare can put you at great risk of electrocution or worse, natural gas line ruptures which can lead to dangerous explosions. When planning any excavation project, remember that hitting an underground utility line, like power or natural gas, is dangerous. It can even be fatal.
Before breaking ground on your next project, take the time to call 811, wait for professional marking, and consider hiring experienced excavation professionals who understand the complexities of working safely around underground utilities. Your family’s safety and your financial security depend on getting it right the first time.