Dig Safely

Protecting America's Lifelines

  • America's network of underground facilities delivers vital resources to your home, your workplace, your community. Heat, light, water, and communications services all reach you through a network of oil and gas pipelines, telecommunications cables, and water lines. Critical services like air traffic control and local 911 emergency response also depend on this network.
  • This underground infrastructure is literally a lifeline -- and it is the safest, most reliable in the world. Keeping it that way is a responsibility we all share. Preventing excavation damage to this network is a top priority for the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). Working with facility operators, state and local governments, excavators, property owners, and concerned citizens, PHMSA and the pipeline industry have developed a comprehensive damage prevention program to protect underground facilities.
  • To prevent excavation damage to all utilities, including pipelines, all 50 states have instituted "One Call" Programs. The programs provide telephone numbers for anyone doing excavation to call before they begin. The One Call operator will notify underground facility operators of any planned excavation so that the company can flag the location of its facilities and assign personnel to be present during excavation, if necessary.
  • Placing a phone call to the State One-Call center or 811 gets your underground utility lines marked for free. Knowing where lines are buried before each digging project helps protect you from injury, expense and possible penalties.
  • Click here to view a list of One Call operators in every state.
  • Under a new program, homeowners, excavators and contractors throughout the nation can now simply dial 811 to have underground facilities marked. For more information, go to www.call811.com.