Locate Utilities

[mark in tx]

A friend of mine had a dog which died of old age, he asked a friend to bury it in the back yard. Well, the friend (not me) started digging and punctured the main gas line which ran through the neighborhood.
Fire department showed up first, they shut off the gas line.
Gas company showed up, made sure the gas was off, then left, came back the next day to dig and replace the pipeline
The neighbors were very unhappy they didn't have gas overnight, the fire department was unhappy, and the gas company was very unhappy.

The only reason the gas company did not charge him for all the repair work was because of the dead dog. Otherwise it would have been a $2500.00 charge.

 

[Pat Whatley]

The only reason the gas company did not charge him for all the repair work was because of the dead dog. Otherwise it would have been a $2500.00 charge.

So let this be a lesson to everyone....along with sand and post hole diggers carry a dead dog around just in case. :ROFLMAO:

 

[round man]

Seems awhile back I was working for the sign division of the local awning company here and we had a work order for an install,...well the boss got a rush call for the install and we told him we were waiting for the underground locators service to mark the site first. No no no that was stupid and we needed to get this sign in the ground asap. It was a good thing the head manager was there when he gave the command because after about 14" of digging on the spot the client chose for the sign I hit and cut a fiber optic hub line,.....well one thing leads to another and next thing ya know there's 3 suits with radio's out there on site and the phone company rep from ma bell and the cities' utility rep,...all of them wanting to know who authorized me to dig there. I told them my boss,...at this point they told me it was going to cost almost 5k to rebury a 500 yard length of fiber optic cable and that "my Boss" was going to get the privilage of paying that bill,...well needless to say we looked kinda bad on the books and the sign division didn't make any profits for the next two months but it was well worth it to hear the head manager chewing out my boss heheheheheheheh,...

then there was the time we were doing hurricane repair and this city manager made us cut down a sign pole that was leaning, we tried to warn him it would knock down the power lines if it fell the wrong way,...needless to say we did exactly as he told us to do,..we all were smiling and laughing on the TV news that night when they made the report of how three sign guys and a city manager had knocked the power out for half of North Charleston,SC that day,.....

 

[ionsigns]

"A customer who insults your policies is undesireable."

 

[MikePro]

what is fiber optic sheathed in, anyways?

 

[Pro Image]

A print shop owner I do work for was installing a new mail box on his property using a gas powered auger......He ripped up 6 ft of fiber optic cable....250 fiber main line to his sub-division.....When the phone company man showed up he got a attitude when the service man told him he should have called first.....Well the service man called in some back up....2- 2 man buckets and a 2 man fiber optic team.....So 7 phone company workers....at 100 a hour for the single service man....400.00 a hour for the 2 man trucks and 1500.00 a hour for the Fiber guys......All tolled up it cost him just shy of 33,000.00 to have it repaired.....always call before you dig.....

 

[Firefox]

He told me to cancel the order and that he would find another shop that didn’t have a “stupid policy”.

Classic case of transference! (I'm stupid so I'm going to deal with a stupid sign company that won't make me wait because of some reasonably policy)

People like this will be the first ones to blame you when something/anything goes wrong. Good riddance I say.

 

[CES020]

I don't know how it is everywhere else, but in VA, if you take out a line, you're not only responsible for the cost of it, but you're responsible for the lost revenue of any busy that went down experienced. There was a case several years ago up near DC where someone took out a fiber line that happened to be to a call center, amongst 100's of other offices in a set of office buildings. It cost them over $2,000,000 and they lost in court. They did have to cough it up.

I hit a 600 pair phone line several years ago. It was marked. Except it wasn't where it was marked, it was 3 feet off the mark. Didn't cost me a penny because I called. For some odd reason, I decided to hand dig those holes and not use an auger. I can't imagine how ugly it would have been had I hit it with the auger. My damage was pretty minor. They came out, argued with each other, never once asked me a word, since it was called in.

I can't tell you how much I weight I lost from sweating when I realized what I hit.

We took over a customer from another sign shop in town. We were asked to update the 4' x 8' signs. We made new ones, had them marked (we were replacing in the same location), and darned if they hadn't planted 3 signs directly on top of high voltage power lines, a fiber line, and a gas line. I didn't even like removing those signs when I saw the marks. Some people are stupid. Eventually, one or more of them won't go home that night because they wan't to save 3 days. No money, 3 days. 3 days isn't worth my life or livelihood.

 

[MikePro]

thank god i've yet to run into things like that.... the last thing i hit while digging a post hole... was a 4' pile of bricks! Casino in Milwaukee is built on top of an old dump site and the parking lot was a minefield of brick/rebar/mesh wire/etc., and I hand-dug nearly every sign in their lot (with the help of a gas powered jackhammer!)

oh yeah.... and we hotlined EVERYTHING! (imagine taking out the power/gas and shutting down a CASINO for even an afternoon?!?)

 

[Drip Dry]

Call before you dig !

I learned my lesson the hard way last summer. We were putting a carved
sign in when we hit the gas line. Cost a little more than 2000.00 after all the fines. We even had to pay the public service commission as punishment and go to dig school
As I think about it, and I do often, we could have been killed. (idiots)

Later I saw a sprinkler guy digging on another customers property (everything is underground in that neighborhood) When I told him what happened to me and maybe he should get it marked, he gave me the attitude that he's been doing it a long time and nothing ever happened. I said good luck as I walked away very quickly.

 

[SignosaurusRex]

I don't dig without calling.....Period! I don't give a crap where its at...unless it's on land that I know for a fact what is and isn't there. That's been my policy for over 20 years. I am one of the lucky ones that never hit a line. I once refused a former bosses order to do an install without first calling, which he ended up having to do the install and I had the last (very quiet) laugh when he told me of his install attempt. Needless to say, he too now has the same policy. I have also had the pleasure of customers who I have explained the policy why's, how's etc. to.... decide to facilitate the process in any way possible including one that arranged all locates and paid for "vacuum extraction" post holes for 80 sign posts and paid me a substantial bonus. The last thing he wanted was any inconveniences for his tenants, damage to utilities or the like on his property or any other ensuing liabilities.
Do yourself a favor...If you are a professional... BE PROFESSIONAL! ....Have a "Dig Policy", stick to it, and, Call before you dig!

 

[BobM]

I don't think there is a worse feeling than standing there, gas blowing out of the ground, police, fire, gas company all looking at you like your the biggest a__hole on the earth. Fortunitly, gas company marked only one of two lines in the area.

Dig Safe is mandatory.

 

[John L]

!!! Call !!!

 

[signage]

Call = money in your pocket


Do Not Call = Out of business and/or possible death!

 

[andy]

Indeed, one site I worked on had the water company accidentally ripping up a main electricity cable.... a big un the diameter of an elephant's leg.

Apparently the BANG when that sucker snapped was quite something.... I saw what was left of the JCB digger and it made my bottom clench. All told this little c0ck up cost the water board 115 thousand quid.... 65 for a new digger and 50 grand to calm down a very angry electricity company.

 

[Blaney]

Thanks for all the input.

Update - I had to take my son to school this morning. On the way back to the shop, I drive by the location where the sign was. I didn’t see it right away. I slowed down to take a closer look, and I see the sign lying on the ground. The mud marks on the bottom of the post appear to be 8 – 10 inches. The Cricut Master set the post less than a foot into the ground. Last night’s 30 mph wind gust leveled the sign.
Question of the Day:
The Sign Guy Want To Be was either:
A) – Worried about the utilities
B) – Too lazy to dig the proper depth
C) – Didn’t have a clue what he was doing
D) – All the above.

 

[SignosaurusRex]

B and C

 

[Gino]

D)



Two years ago, out tenant put bollards in the ground to protect the building from lousy parking patients...... at my request. It was their patients, so it was their responsibility. He had his Mexican start digging and I saw this on our security cameras and immediately went out and stopped him. I instructed him that he had to call the PA-DIG number before he starts. Well, talking to this worker was like talking to the dirt down there. Anyway, I called the doctor out and told him he HAD to call first. The utility companies all reported in and marked what was and wasn't around the area to be dug. Again, I went out and told the guy he had to stop. This time he was in the right, but I knew for a fact, that the paint markings weren't correct. The utility people missed some pipes. They came back out and argued with me and I asked them to just use their testers to see if anything was where I was pointing. Their records showed nothing, but turned out there was a gas feed for our neighbor running through my property. The gas guy wanted to know how I knew and the gas company has no record. That was the easy part. The gas company was out there two years prior to that and dug up my neighbors gas line and found it was on my property, but I guess they never documented it. Sad part is.... exactly where one of the bollards was to be was where the gas line made a 90° turn. We probably would've hit the elbow.

Oh, in addition, the gas company was trying to act as if I had put a gas feed on my property without notifying them.... in an attempt to get free gas. Yeah, right.... like I'm gonna do all that for my frickin' neighbor who just happens to be the world's biggest a$$hole. ​

 

[Brandon708]

Always call JULIE or what ever you utilities locater is called in your area. Around here it takes the 2 days to get it done. I just did an install a few hours ago for a 4x8 sign. I called JULIE on Wednesday morning and installed it on Friday night.

Its not worth the risk. However I have done it in the past with out calling when it was a big field set back from the street quite a bit. But now I almost always call.

 

[xtremesignshop/brad]

Its always better to be cautious than to end up paying several thousand dollars and or loosing your life!!!! Its an awesome policy and stand firm by it!