April is National Safe Digging Month. To highlight the need for increased awareness around safe digging, a recent study by Common Ground Alliance revealed that many homeowners are putting themselves and their families at risk by not calling 811.

Digging without knowing the approximate location of underground utilities can result in serious injuries, inconvenient service disruptions and costly repairs when utility lines are damaged. Making a free call to 811 or contacting Ohio811 at www.oups.org at least 48 hours before digging will help homeowners maintain essential utility service for themselves and neighbors and keep communities safe by reducing the likelihood of accidentally digging into buried utility lines.

"Safe digging is extremely important for public safety. Unsafe digging can have serious and even deadly consequences, but the good news is it is extremely easy to avoid these consequences by calling 811 to have any underground utilities in your dig area located properly" said Joe Marinello, manager of Operations Programs at Columbia Gas.

As part of National Safe Digging Month, Columbia Gas is encouraging homeowners to take the following steps when planning a digging project this spring:

  *   Always call 811 a few days before digging. Call at least 48 hours before beginning your project.

  *   Consider moving the location of your project if it is near utility line markings.

  *   If a contractor has been hired, confirm that the contractor has called 811. Don't allow work to begin if the lines aren't marked.

  *   Visit ColumbiaGasOhio.com/811 for more information.

By calling 811, a trained utility line locator will visit the dig site to mark the approximate location of underground public utility lines with paint or flags. Each color represents a unique type of underground utility. The utility flags may be removed once the project is fully complete. See the complete color code guide and learn more information on ColumbiaGasOhio.com/811.