Remember: Call Before You Dig

Posted by ComEd:
For summer DIY projects, ComEd  encourages customers to be mindful of outdoor safety before planting, pruning or installing that backyard pool.

Whether digging with a shovel or backhoe for planting, fence building or construction, there’s risk of contact with buried electrical and gas lines – which could cause a life threatening event.

Before digging, residential customers and contractors are required by law to call 811 at least 48 business hours prior to beginning any digging work for a free property survey to locate where underground lines are buried.

Whether a project is small, such as gardening, or massive, such as a swimming pool installation, advance reporting can prevent outages and potentially serious injuries.

To prevent accidents or injuries when landscaping, conducting home improvements or enjoying the sun, ComEd offers the following outdoor safety tips:

• Use extension cords marked for outdoor use.
• Be aware of power lines that run through tree limbs and branches.
• Keep away from fallen power lines; always assume a power line is live.
• Keep people, ladders and other equipment at least 10 feet away from power lines.