Con Edison Reminder: Stay Safe and Call 8-1-1 Before You Dig

Con Edison reminds contractors, homeowners and anyone else putting a shovel, backhoe bucket or other digging tool in the ground to follow the law and dial 8-1-1. It’s for everyone’s safety.

Calling 8-1-1 lets Con Edison and other utilities identify their underground facilities to ensure that the dig does not strike those facilities, which include gas piping, electric cables, and other equipment. The “Call 8-1-1 Before You Dig” program sends a technician at no charge to mark out utility-owned lines with stakes, flags, or paint, so that excavators can avoid them.

“Calling 8-1-1 before you dig is fast and easy and helps keep us all safe,” said Peter Corredor, a project specialist in Con Edison’s Construction - Quality Assurance Group. “It’s particularly important in a region like ours where the underground environment is such a thick maze of facilities that are dangerous if struck by excavating equipment.”

Con Edison is issuing the reminder because spring brings construction work, as contractors and homeowners install underground swimming pools, fencing, decks, patios and other road and sidewalk improvements. Even small projects like planting a flower bed or bush or putting up a mailbox require a call.

Excavators who damage underground facilities because they did not follow the 8-1-1 regulations face hefty fines and repair costs. Worse yet, they can create unnecessary service interruptions and potentially endanger the public.

For information on calling 811 before you dig, please visit https://www.coned.com/en/safety/safety/gas-safety/call-before-you-dig

April is National Safe Digging Month, a time when utilities, government agencies and other parties step up their campaigns to educate the public about the importance of calling 8-1-1. The call and service are free, and it’s the law.

Con Edison is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. [NYSE: ED], one of the nation's largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues and $63 billion in assets. The utility provides electric, gas and steam service to more than three million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York.