Toolbox Talk: Diggers Hotline
Every time you dig, you run the risk of injury, loss of life, or damage to property if you hit buried cables, conduits, pipelines, or other utilities. Calling Diggers Hotline is the best way to find out what is buried on your dig site and which areas you must avoid when digging.
Some facility owners may not be members of Diggers Hotline. It is the excavator’s responsibility to make contact with these owners before digging begins.
Wisconsin Statute 182.0175 requires every excavator and everyone responsible for planning non-emergency excavations to provide advance notice of at least three business days to the one-call system.
Q: What is Diggers Hotline?
A: Diggers Hotline is a free service that you use before you do any kind of digging to make sure you don’t damage underground lines. Let us know at least three working days before you start digging and we will help you avoid costly or dangerous buried lines.
Q: Will all of the lines be marked on my property?
A: Diggers Hotline coordinates between excavators (such as a homeowner) and the owners of buried lines (such as a utility company). It’s up to the owners of the lines to mark the locations near your job site with paint and/or flags. Private lines, such as an electric line to a detached garage or other outbuilding or a line from a propane tank that may be on your property, are considered the responsibility of the landowner. A locating company can be hired to mark private lines.
Q: What are private lines and why don’t they get marked?
A: Private lines are utilities that are owned by homeowners or private businesses and are contained fully on their property. Because these lines do not cross into the public right-of-way, they are not required to be members of Diggers Hotline and will not be notified of location requests. Examples of private lines include propane lines, sewer laterals, sprinkler systems, ornamental lighting, and electric lines to a barn or garage.
Q: Do I have to call if I’m only using hand tools?
A: Yes, and it doesn’t matter how deep you are digging. State law requires notifying Diggers Hotline before you excavate, grade, trench, dig, drill, augur, tunnel, scrape, or plow cable or pipe. Excavation, according to the law, means anything that moves, removes, or displaces earth rock, or other material in or on the ground.
