dumptrucker
10-09-2007, 12:35 AM
This happened about 20 years ago. I had just started working for a landscaping co. operating their john deere 70d.
We were working at a new condo complex at a ski area. We had walkways to dig out and 6 30' blue spruce trees to plant. Now, for anyone that has never seen a tree that big planted, the root ball is about7-8 feet in diameter and about 4 to 5 feet deep.
We had called earlier that week for dig-safe to come out and mark everything. So this guy shows up looking like he just graduated elementary school. He actually had to read the directions on how to run the locator. That already had made a warning light go off in my head.
We had gotten all the walkways dug and preped, so it was on to the big blue spruce trees. The ground we are digging in is nothing but hard pan clay, so we have to over dig the holes to put good soil in so the tree will have a chance at surviving. We already had two trees in and were on our last tree, which probably had a lot to do with the upcoming boo boo, because by this time it was the end of the day and the start of a weekend.
I started digging the hole for the tree. I had looked around and we were 30 feet from any "marked" utilities, so on the digging went. I was digging this hole like I was in the middle of a field with nothing around me for miles and then bang! There was a bright light like a welders light and then one more big bang! That was it no more noise or light or my bucket! I had hit an unmarked 4000 volt line that went to the snowmaking pond. My bucket had one corner melted right away. This all happened in about 4 seconds. There was nothing I could do.
We were all lucky on this mishap. No one was standing near the hole or the machine. I immediatly began blaming myself for this accident, and the reason for that is , even though the line was not marked you should never get to comfortable when working around utilities. Had I been more cautious this might not have happend. I would have either felt the line or seen the burial tape, which by the way was only 4 inches above the conduit, not much of a warning.
Just goes to show you can't always trust the lines and even if you are confident about where everything is , you still should be very cautious and aware of everything.
We were working at a new condo complex at a ski area. We had walkways to dig out and 6 30' blue spruce trees to plant. Now, for anyone that has never seen a tree that big planted, the root ball is about7-8 feet in diameter and about 4 to 5 feet deep.
We had called earlier that week for dig-safe to come out and mark everything. So this guy shows up looking like he just graduated elementary school. He actually had to read the directions on how to run the locator. That already had made a warning light go off in my head.
We had gotten all the walkways dug and preped, so it was on to the big blue spruce trees. The ground we are digging in is nothing but hard pan clay, so we have to over dig the holes to put good soil in so the tree will have a chance at surviving. We already had two trees in and were on our last tree, which probably had a lot to do with the upcoming boo boo, because by this time it was the end of the day and the start of a weekend.
I started digging the hole for the tree. I had looked around and we were 30 feet from any "marked" utilities, so on the digging went. I was digging this hole like I was in the middle of a field with nothing around me for miles and then bang! There was a bright light like a welders light and then one more big bang! That was it no more noise or light or my bucket! I had hit an unmarked 4000 volt line that went to the snowmaking pond. My bucket had one corner melted right away. This all happened in about 4 seconds. There was nothing I could do.
We were all lucky on this mishap. No one was standing near the hole or the machine. I immediatly began blaming myself for this accident, and the reason for that is , even though the line was not marked you should never get to comfortable when working around utilities. Had I been more cautious this might not have happend. I would have either felt the line or seen the burial tape, which by the way was only 4 inches above the conduit, not much of a warning.
Just goes to show you can't always trust the lines and even if you are confident about where everything is , you still should be very cautious and aware of everything.