Who you gonna call? It’d better be Diggers Hotline

With April as Safe Digging Month, raising awareness of the simple measures Wisconsinites can take to keep their communities safe this digging season, is important.

Residents and contractors must always contact the Diggers Hotline, by phone, at 8-1-1, or online, at DiggersHotline. com, before they dig. Diggers Hotline is a free, statewide, one-call system, that allows the general public and professionals undertaking excavation, to inform multiple utility and telecommunications providers of planned excavation. The one-call center alerts the appropriate underground facility owner, so they can dispatch locators to mark the approximate location of underground facilities with paint, stakes or flags.

Then, it is safe to dig around the marked locations. Under state law, individuals are required to notify the Diggers Hotline, at least three days, before they excavate, grade, trench, dig, drill, auger, tunnel, scrape, and/ or plow or drive cable, or pipes. Once the locations are marked, an 18-inch buffer zone must be maintained on each side of a marked facility and mechanized equipment cannot be used within the buffer zone.

Violations of state law can be reported to the Diggers Hotline Enforcement Center. If probable cause of a violation is found, a panel of Diggers Hotline stakeholders will decide between education or a referral to the Public Service Commission (PSC).

If the case is referred to the PSC, an investigation will determine if there was a violation of the law, and subsequent fines or legal action.