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| Always Notify 811 Before You Dig—It's the Law! |
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| Everyone’s resources have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. You can help prevent locate delays by pre-marking your proposed dig area in white and notifying MISS DIG 811 of your planned excavation with as much lead time as possible: up to 14 calendar days in Michigan. To learn more about Consumers Energy's response to COVID-19, click here. |
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| Do you have a project that involves digging? If so, don’t forget to include notifying 811—your local one-call utility locator service—in your excavation plans. Damage from digging activities can cause power outages and pipeline accidents, and we need your help to prevent them! |
Order our complimentary worker safety training kit on the Consumers Energy's
Work Safe website. |
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| Dial 811 or enter an online request at least three business days before digging in Michigan (excluding weekends and legal holidays). It’s the law! |
| The 811 service is free and will notify any utilities that have underground facilities in your dig area, so they can mark out the utility locations. Once you know where utility lines are located, you can dig a safe distance away from them. (You may want to consider hiring a private locating contractor to locate non-utility-owned lines, such as gas lines to grills or power lines to swimming pools.) |
| Know the Dangers |
| If you don’t notify 811 before digging, you risk contacting a buried utility line. Hitting a buried electric line can cause outages and serious shock injuries or fatalities. And hitting a gas line can lead to a fire or explosion. You can avoid property damage, personal injury, and possible fines and repair costs by notifying the 811 service before you start to dig. Even small digging jobs require this. |
| Play It Safe |
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Pre-mark your proposed excavation area with white paint, flags and/or stakes. |
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WAIT the required time for utilities to be marked before you dig. Confirm all utilities have been marked by checking the MISS DIG Positive Response system online at response.missdig.org or by calling 800-763-3888. |
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Follow state laws for digging within the “caution zone,” a safety area that spans the width of a marked utility plus 48 inches from each indicated outside edge.
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Respect the marks, hand expose to verify the location of marked utility lines and dig with care! |
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| Would You Like to Know More? |
| Additional utility safety tips, case studies, instructional videos and training tools can all be found, at no charge to you, at Consumers Energy's website ConsumersEnergy.com/worksafe. |
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