Take the Final Step When Digging Around Underground Utilities

by Kathy Haenszel - Sales Executive

We all know about locating underground utilities before digging, but do you know the final step you should be taking before firing up the backhoe? 

It’s not uncommon for us to see claims for cut lines if the locates were inaccurate, even though the water system had underground utilities located prior to digging. For whatever reason, sometimes the utilities are marked incorrectly. And when the water system digs, they hit the mismarked underground utilities.  You can help your system’s insurance loss record if you’ll take some pictures of the locates before you start digging.  It’s especially helpful if your pictures have a landmark or two in them (a tree, fence, gate, road sign, etc.) so in the event the utilities are mismarked and you accidentally cut one, your insurance adjuster can use your photos to document that the problem is with the locate and that you did everything you could to avoid damaging the other utilities.  This may enable the adjuster to shift the claim to the responsible party and help improve your utility’s loss history, thereby allowing you to qualify for insurance discounts available to those with lower losses.
 
If you have any questions or comments about this, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our water industry insurance agents.