Always call 811 BEFORE digging! 

These pictures were taken in Mountrail County, North Dakota, by Whiting Oil and Gas. Both of them show a near miss of a pipeline by an excavator.

This picture shows a fence post that was put in very close to an oil gathering line. Whiting's One Call locate crew was driving the area on their way to locate another line and noticed that this post was very close to the right of way.  They called in a Hydro Vac to excavate around the fence post so they could inspect the oil line. An auger was used to drill the hole for the fence post, luckily they stopped drilling 3 inches short of the oil line.  Missing the oil line was sheer luck; no call was ever placed prior to this dig.

Whiting's locate crew was driving by this area and noticed a track hoe and several holes dug in a field that were very close to the gas and oil gathering line right of way. Whiting went to the site to investigate and found no information that would indicate an owner or a point of contact. The Whiting representative left his business card at the site with a note to stop digging.  Several days later, Whiting received a call from the excavator and filed a complaint with the North Dakota Public Service Commission. The excavator was fined. He missed the gathering lines by only a couple of inches.

Excavation damage is the leading cause of incidents that result in death and/or serious injury. Regardless of where you are, there may be pipelines and other utilities buried underground.  It is important to follow safe digging practices, whether you are a homeowner planting a tree or digging a fence post hole, or a professional excavator. Safe digging always starts with a prior call to 811 and someone will come out and mark underground utilities. Knowing what's below enables diggers to avoid underground utilities, and can prevent injury, death, environmental damage and loss of critical services. Learn more about staying safe around pipelines by visiting PHMSA's Pipeline Safety Update.

Have you got an example of a near miss you'd like to share? Send it to phmsa.publicaffairs@dot.gov.