Miss Dig / One Call System

A few months ago a back hoe and crew was digging over top of one of my companies high pressure pipelines....and bad stuff happened!! Here is a example of why it is important to call your states One Call or Miss Dig system! This was one a 18" pipeline that was shut down (THANK GOD) but was holding a (in my biz) small amount of about 700#s. The back hoe broke off a 2" nipple on the top of the pipeline that they didn't know was there!! The line was full of unleaded gasoline and the spray went well over 100'+ into the air!!! Just wanted to share the pics and the lesson! AGAIN THANK GOD nobody was injured or killed!! They all got out and left the back hoe running next to the hole!! I deal with this stuff on a regular basis and I'm constantly POUNDING this into contractors heads!!! PLEASE BE CAREFULL WITH UNDERGROUND UTILITIES!!! PRINT THIS OUT AND SHOW IT TO YOUR WORKERS OR CO-WORKERS SO THEY DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE!!!

The word, "oops" comes to mind.

I know of an airport back east that gets it's jet fuel by pipes underground.

I was in Bellingham when that pipeline exploded in '02. It devastated a neighborhood, it looked like pics I see from Bagdad. You are so right!! Call before you dig!!

we run into this kinda stuff all the time, at the cable company.. john q contractor takes his backhoe and starts digging up somebody's yard, and then whack, there goes the underground cable line!! and worse yet, the electric and phone are buried in the same trench!! :bonk: :tt:

Oh yeah, but what's worse when you tear out cable...you ruin somebody's TV plans!! I'm talking about death and destruction... Worries, it is most likely my company that ships to that airport. We are the sole provider to JFK and many other large international airports...including Detroit Metro Airport...jet fuel is cool!!!

Screw Miss Dig. They take forever, if I wanna dig I wanna dig now! Repairs can always be made! LOL BUt mine usually consist of my sprinkler lines or neighbors cable TV line (she is 90 and I dont think can see the TV so its not a big deal) LOL And the broken sprinkler lines just allow more water to get to my lawn. I see both as a +. Too many stupid people in this world. And Gas man loves to point them all out. :withstupi

I'd hate to get the bill for that. :yikes:

While I expect no less from Ace on a subject like this....Shan your onto something here!! The repair costs to fix the problem can sometimes be small on the grander scale. It's the environmental cleanup costs that sky rocket. The clean ups can take 15, 20, 25+ years to clean it up... Not to mention the remediation systems that we have to install and hire a envirnmental company to maintain. I know, first hand, I have been on many leak sites and go thru tons of training every year. Training in repair, containment, fire, and clean up. We just had a training about a month ago and I had to complete a repair to a simulated break on a pipeline. I even had to wear a complete SCBA system with air tank and all. That included hand digging and the repair. All of which would be required in a real scenario and the contractor would have to pay for finacially if he was still alive... VERY VERY DANGEROUS!!

Not to mention it's free! Free service which could save big bucks & lives. They are usually out to my jobs within 3 days of my call. Always, always call Miss Dig first.

Great...now we've promoted the crap out of miss dig. Ready this was a waste of time. Like Ace said, do the work and if you screw something up, it can be fixed. If you don't screw anything up, you just saved a lot of time and time equals money. It's all about the all mighty dollar and cutting corners.

Like he says...he's smrt!!

What idiots. I can't imagine not taking the time to make a simple call which could save not only money, but perhaps lives. On a side note... if you do have to dig near where any lines are, make sure you carefully spot the cable first. In this area we have a hell of a time with Consumer's Energy being accurate (they never are). Sometimes they would be up to four feet off their mark. Sure, if we had knicked/cut/crushed their line it would have been their fault, but it was our wellbeing that was at risk so we always double-check 'em.

I'd hate to get the bill for that. :yikes: It aint cheap, thats for sure..when somebody cuts our cable line, its 50.00 to do it if it can be repaired...if it has to be replaced!! whoa, look out!! cha ching!!!

Becca the reason why consumer's lines are mis-marked is because they contract that service out. It is contracted out by SM&P...stands for Smith somin somin... I call them Stupid Marking People. They are the worse!! I could tell you tons of stories when they were way off and complete stupid! But I don't have that much time!!