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| Welcome to Rhode Island Energy’s Tips of the trade. We are committed to your safety, and these tips are intended to help you work safely near our natural gas pipelines. Please review these tips with your coworkers at your tailgate or toolbox meetings before work begins. |
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| Safely exposing buried utilities |
| You've called 811, you've waited at least 72 hours excluding weekends and legal holidays 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. |
| Always contact your state 811 center before digging and for the most current requirements. |
| To order our FREE safety kit, visit the Rhode Island Energy e-SMARTworkers website. |
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| Buried natural gas lines, 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 one-half of the known diameter plus 18 inches on either side of the designated centerline of buried utilities. |
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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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| 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 electrical 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 our crews can inspect the line and make the necessary repairs. (If gas is leaking, the law requires that you call 911.) |
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