Call 811 Before You Dig

If you ‘see red,’ buried power lines are present

If you are dig­ging and encounter a red cau­tion tape, stop imme­di­ate­ly! This tape is warn­ing that pow­er lines are buried below. Con­tin­u­ing to dig past red tape is not only extreme­ly dan­ger­ous, but it is also ille­gal.

Under state law, you can be held liable for dam­ages to the elec­tric ser­vice or oth­er buried util­i­ties and required to cov­er repair costs.

Before start­ing a project, such as installing a new fence or plant­i­ng trees, remem­ber that under­ground pow­er or oth­er util­i­ty lines may be present. If you’re not absolute­ly sure where any under­ground lines are locat­ed on your prop­er­ty, call South Car­oli­na 811 at 1–888-721‑7877 or, just call 811, and you’ll be auto­mat­i­cal­ly con­nect­ed. They’ll send some­one to locate under­ground lines for you, free of charge.

Circular logo with "811" and a shovel, promoting safe digging. Text reads: "Call 811 Before You Dig - Safe Digging Partner." Bright green and black colors.

Per our safe­ty rules and reg­u­la­tions, we are required to have 10 feet of clear­ance in front of all under­ground elec­tri­cal equip­ment and 4 feet on all oth­er sides. Labels on the front of all under­ground equip­ment list these require­ments on equip­ment buffer­ing. An exam­ple is shown below.

Typ­i­cal­ly, obstruc­tions to our under­ground equip­ment are plants and shrub­bery. It is imper­a­tive that the front of all under­ground equip­ment stay clear so that we may obtain access for nec­es­sary main­te­nance and pow­er restora­tion. Crews will begin this main­te­nance work soon in your area. Debris from nec­es­sary trim­ming and cut­ting will be removed and dis­posed of by our crews.

Thank you for your val­ued mem­ber­ship. We appre­ci­ate your coop­er­a­tion as we work to pro­vide you the best elec­tri­cal ser­vice pos­si­ble. If you have ques­tions regard­ing this upcom­ing work, please con­tact us at (803) 684‑4248.

 

YEC Underground Equipment Label

We rec­om­mend that all exca­va­tors request their own locate notices.

The com­pa­ny or per­son who is doing the actu­al exca­va­tion work should always secure a locate notice.

Noti­fy SC811 and the Facil­i­ty Own­er to inspect and repair, no mat­ter how min­i­mal the dam­age. If the dam­age pos­es a dan­ger for employ­ees or the pub­lic, call 911 and evac­u­ate the area imme­di­ate­ly. Then con­tact the facil­i­ty own­er and sub­mit a dam­age report online.

We can­not advise on lia­bil­i­ty issues and rec­om­mend that exca­va­tors obtain legal advice from their own attor­neys.

Exca­va­tion is an oper­a­tion for the pur­pose of mov­ing or remov­ing earth, rock, or oth­er mate­ri­als in or on the ground by using mech­a­nized equip­ment or dis­charg­ing explo­sives, includ­ing auger­ing, back­fill­ing, dig­ging, ditch­ing, drilling, grad­ing, plow­ing-in, pulling-in, rip­ping, scrap­ping, trench­ing, and tun­nel­ing.

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