Brochure

WHITE PAPER
Sponsored by
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THE DIRT ON SAFE DIGGING
Take Safety to
Mach 2 with an
Air-Powered
Excavation Tool
When it comes to underground utility lines, what you
can’t see can hurt you. The Common Ground Alliance,
an association that promotes efforts to reduce damage
to underground infrastructure, estimates that there are
more than 20 million miles of gas, electric, water, sewer
and telecommunication lines buried underground in the
United States. That’s the equivalent of more than one
football eld’s length of buried utilities for every man,
woman and child in the nation.
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Digging without knowing the approximate location of
underground utilities can lead to injuries and fatalities,
property damage, service disruptions and costly repairs.
Consequently, utility companies and contractors go to
great lengths to ensure that their employees are taking
the necessary safety precautions when working around
underground utility infrastructure.
Still, incidents continue to occur. According to the
U.S. Department of Transportation, there were 1,815
pipeline incidents caused by excavation damage
between 1988 and 2014. These incidents resulted in
193 deaths, 757 injuries and nearly $545 million in
property damage.
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1 Common Ground Alliance, http://call811.com/before-you-dig/risk-reduction
2 Stacy Cummings, “Do You Know What’s Below? Call 811 Before You Dig!”,
U.S. Department of Transportation “Fast Lane” blog, Aug. 6, 2015, https://www.
transportation.gov/fastlane/national-811-day-2015