Photo shows Northumberland County Warden Bob Crate (in the hat) and Director of Transportation, Waste and Facilities Mo Pannu with the Dig Safe flag.
By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Northumberland County joins the many communities collaborating with the Ontario Regional Common Ground Alliance to lead Dig Safe awareness campaigns in April – recognized by county council this week as Dig Safe Month.
Every year – especially at this time when spring renovation, building and landscaping projects entail digging – a failure to contact Ontario One Call in advance results in more than 4,500 unintentional hits to underground utility lines across the province — an average of 18 hits per day. The result may include injury, repair costs, fines and inconvenient power outages.
Dig Safe Month – in Ontario and across Canada – is aimed at raising awareness of the importance of obtaining utility locates before all digging projects to reduce these risks. Homeowners and contractors are responsible for having lines marked, whether they are planting a sapling or beginning a major construction project.
regardless of whether they are planting a sapling or performing an excavation during a major infrastructure project.
“Unintentional hits to our underground infrastructure risk causing both community damage and personal injury,” Northumberland Warden Bob Crate said in the county’s press release.
“County council is therefore pleased to support Dig Safe Month campaigns to raise awareness about the importance of securing utility locates before starting any digging.”
Following council’s proclamation of Dig Safe Month, the Dig Safe flag will fly on the flagpole at county headquarters (555 Courthouse Rd., Cobourg) through April 30 as a reminder to homeowners and contractors to contact Ontario One Call at the start of every project.
By contacting Ontario One Call (at 1-800-400-2255 or www.ontarioonecall.call), the appropriate utility companies are notified of the intent to dig. Professional locators are sent to the requested digging site to mark the approximate locations of underground lines with flags or spray paint. Once lines have been properly marked, digging can begin safely around the marked lines.
