Our Federally mandated 811 – Call Before You Dig program is an excellent idea with one major flaw. Call Before You Dig employees lack good judgement and common sense. While this may seem like a bold, opinionated and condemnatory statement, all you have to do is look around at their graffiti handiwork to see evidence confirming my point. It is like Call Before You Dig employees have to earn low scores on a common sense / intelligence test before being selected for the job.
Normally an applicant needs to earn a high score for most other jobs. Apparently, Call Before You Dig is different. If an applicant demonstrates a testing level between dumb and brain dead, the job is theirs. I am thinking candidates exhibiting pure joy with the very thought of destroying private and public property with their spray paint must earn bonus points on the employment exam. I would not be surprised if applicants with criminal arrest records for spray painting graffiti on churches are given preference in the hiring process.
This is a dream job for former juvenile vandals. They can mark their territory with an unlimited supply of free spray paint.
To prevent you from concluding I am just being theoretical, I wish to share my most recent Call Before You Dig experience.
During a water quality project performed by The City of Lakewood, the city complied with regulations by phoning the Call Before You Dig hotline at 811. I support the city’s compliance because the process protects our utility infrastructure; but most importantly because calling 811 helps to insure personal safety for utility workers, contractors and the public at large.
What I do object to is the Call Before You Dig center sending out The Scarecrow from the movie, The Wizard of Oz. Just like the Scarecrow, the Call Before You Dig employee must have straw for brains. Otherwise why would he drive his heavy Call Before You Dig work van over our 65 year old, brittle, deteriorating concrete curbing, possibly crushing our sprinkler system and then finally landing on our lawn? The tire damaged to our lawn created two depressed areas in the turf that required landscape repair. One hole is the size of a kids bowling ball; 12” deep.
The Scarecrow’s next display of bad judgement was to paint our green community garden hose the color red. While it is easy to argue the damage to our hose is inconsequential, I wonder what reaction the owner of the Call Before You Dig company would have had I painted the side of his van? He could have me arrested because damaging property with spray paint constitutes the crime of vandalism.
I have a training tip for the Scarecrow. Move the hose before you paint your markings.
Before I finish, let me publicly register my complaint about the spray paint on the yellow rubber sidewalk rumble-bumpy safety strip. We have to live with that for what seems like forever.
Hi, Joe –
Speaking for the 811 centers, I’m sorry you had a bad experience. The national 811 program prevents underground damage and saves lives. But you are incorrect in labeling the 811 program or employees in having to do with marking lines. This is NOT performed by ANYONE connected with 811 call centers. At 811, we take the dig locate information and pass it along to the relevant utilities. In some cases, utilities contract this marking service out to companies that only locate lines. If you have a complaint with the way lines are marked, it should be made to the utility company. In the pictures in your story, I see blue, indicating potable water lines, and red, indicating electrical lines. So – any marking complaints should go to those utilities, not the 811 call center.
Thanks for calling 811.
Scott Finley
Manager, Media & PR
Texas811
Hello Joe,
First I’d like to say it’s unfortunate that you had such an unpleasant experience. That being said, you should understand that the actions of one individual are not representative of the Call Before You Dig system as a whole. The Call Before You Dig system incorporates several entities working together to protect underground utility infrastructure. Often the person taking your call, the person transmitting this information, and the person physically marking the ground all work for separate companies. If you have an issue with the way a specific locator performed his duties, your most effective approach would be to file a complaint with the relevant utility providers. As indicated by your photos, it appears the relevant utilities in this case are the water (blue) and electric (red) providers.
I’m glad you are aware of the necessity of calling 811 before you dig, and hope this experience does not discourage you from notifying the system in the future. In the end, damage prevention is a shared responsibility.
Kind Regards,
Brian Casey
Copywriter,
One Call Concepts, Inc.
This person is clueless and yes the employees may have painted your water hose or a rumble strip in the utility right of way but it is better than what could happen to a persons life because you are crying about something that can be replaced. I hear this all the time and I work in an upper class part of the city and there is always THAT person who is clueless. But like I said , I’m not saying the employee was perfect by parking on someone’s front lawn but the other is petty ,get over it I say hop down from your high horse and actually understand what the markings are really there for.
Joe – Zoom into your picture. What does it say on the side of that van? Go after them… Know who you’re man at before you start attacking blameless others. An apology the the Call Before You Dig industry is in order, but I suspect that will never happen. By the way, while you were taking the photo, did you say “Hey, don’t spray paint my hose?” or did you just take a picture from far, far away?
AND the scarecrow image is a copyright infringement. You should probably remove it.