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Call before you dig

td25c

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
5,250
Location
indiana
The local electric company drilled into a 12" borough water main last week setting a new pole...


At one of our job sites the power company was replacing a pole . Pulled the old one out then while boring the old hole out the auger brought up a fiber optic line .

The fiber line had been directionally bored and went rite under the power pole . Not sure who was at fault . Contractor installing the fiber line should not have went under the power pole in my opinion . It was a bit of a mess at the time .
 

tuney443

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2006
Messages
1,216
Location
Dutchess County,NY
Occupation
excavating contractor
I just attended our annual spring seminar.I went up to the head mucky muck during intermission,told him of IMHO 3 major possible boo boos that happened to me because the underground operators were not doing their job correctly. He basically blew me off.
 

Andrew_D

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2012
Messages
298
Location
Newdale, Manitoba, Canada
I just have to tell this story of my Dad's....

This was early 1970's. They were on site of a new subdivision, preparing to open a trench across an empty lot to the water main. (He was a plumber, pipe fitter, gas fitter.) He had called power co for a locate and they said "all clear". Called telephone: "All clear". Called Gas Co "All clear". Started digging....

Up came a 2" diameter bundle of phone cables. Shut 'er down. Over to the job shack and calls the phone co. "Do you have anything in this lot?" "Nope, as we told you this morning, it's all clear" "Well, we just dug up a 2" bundle of lines." "OK, we're on our way"

Moved over a ways and start digging again... Up comes the yellow jacket off a gas line. Shut 'er down. Over to the job shack and calls the gas co. "Do you have anything in this lot?" "Nope, as we told you this morning, it's all clear" "Well, we just dug up a cover for a gas line." "OK, we're on our way"

By now Dad is thinking that these companies have lost their marbles. Maybe better call the power co again??? He calls and the guy insists that they have nothing in the area. So Dad proceeds to tell them the story of the phone co and gas co. The guy pauses and says "I'll have someone over there right away". Dad doesn't even make it from the job shack back to the trench when he has 4 power co trucks pull up. Guys are walking around with maps and looking at a pole at the edge of the lot...."Wonder where those lines that come off the pole and go into the ground are heading???" Sure enough, they ran directly across the lot. They would have dug right through it if they had continued digging!

Andrew
 
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