Call 811 Before You Dig

Utility facilities could be buried anywhere you plan to dig: under the road, sidewalk, or even in your yard. Calling before you dig ensures that any underground facilities, including power lines, will be marked so you can dig around them safely without accidentally damaging property or causing personal injury. Most importantly, it could save a life.

Making the call to locate underground facilities prior to digging or excavation work is also a requirement under Oregon state law.

So, what do you do? First, if you are planning to use equipment to dig, you are required to call the clearinghouse for a location request. If you are hand digging, it is not required, but it still makes sense to call the clearinghouse so you know where the utility lines and cables are to avoid damaging them with a spade, shovel or post digger. If you have hired an excavator, that person or company is responsible for calling the clearinghouse and obtaining a location of the facilities on your behalf.

Be prepared to provide the following information:

• Your name, phone number, company name (if applicable), and mailing address.
• The name and phone number of an alternate contact person, in case the utilities have questions and cannot reach you.
• Distance of work to overhead power lines.
• Type of work to be done.
• Person for whom the work is being done.
• Location of work, including street address, nearest cross street, city, county, township, range, section, etc.
• The distance and direction of the worksite from the intersection.

The notification center representative will provide you with a list of underground facility owners in your area, a time in which the underground lines will be marked and a ticket number for your reference. Under normal circumstances it takes between 2 to 5 days from the time you call (not counting weekends or holidays) to have the underground lines marked. In the event of an emergency (any situation causing damage to life or property, or a service outage), lines can be marked sooner than the original given time if requested.