April is National Safe Digging Month, and as the weather in the Black Hills is becoming ideal for outdoor projects, Black Hills Power is emphasizing the company's first priority - safety - by providing important guidelines for safe digging.

First, whether you're a homeowner planting a shrub or a contractor using a backhoe, you must "Call Before You Dig." It's free, it's safe and it's the law.

Call South Dakota One-Call toll-free at 811 or go to onecall.sd.gov at least two business days before you plan to dig. Utility specialists will visit your site for free and mark the approximate location of buried utility lines with color-coded paint or flags - at no charge to you. Red and orange, for example, marks underground electrical lines.

Black Hills Power also offers these tips for safe digging.

  • Before the utility locating specialists are scheduled to mark your underground utility lines, spray-paint a white line around your planned excavation site. "White-lining" helps the line locator understand your plans and reduces the chance for project delays.
  • Do you know the proper way to increase safety by keeping your shovel-face parallel to the utility markings? Learn more safe digging tips at onecall.sd.gov. Click on any of the left hand navigation tabs to find a list of best practices.

"One of our first priorities for our customers is public safety," said Vance Crocker, vice president for Black Hills Power's electric operations. "Any time of year, you must call before you dig as buried power lines may be out of sight, but they should never be out of mind."

Anyone who doesn't follow the "Call Before You Dig" laws may face substantial penalties. Striking an underground utility line could leave you responsible for a personal safety hazard and may cause expensive repairs to public or private property, to blame for a service outage to a neighborhood or entire community, or responsible for a serious injury.

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