“Call Before You Dig” Law Discussed During CONN-OSHA Roundtable on May 18

For immediate release
May 14, 2010 

WETHERSFIELD – Joseph Gallo, an enforcement officer with the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control, will detail the “Call Before You Dig” law (Public Act 77-350) at a May 18 Breakfast Roundtable meeting sponsored by the Connecticut Department of Labor’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (CONN-OSHA). Running from 8:15 to 9:45 a.m., the event session will be held in the agency’s Wethersfield Central Office, 200 Folly Brook Boulevard. 

“Call Before You Dig” legislation was implemented in the state after a Dec. 6, 1985 explosion killed six workers. The explosion occurred when members of a work crew punctured a natural gas line outside the River Restaurant in Derby. 

“The law was developed and enacted by the state Legislature and the DPUC,” noted CONN-OSHA Safety Training Specialist John Able, who coordinates the breakfast series. ”Today, ‘Call Before You Dig,’ which is headquartered in Hamden, can be reached by calling 1-800-922-4455 or online at www.cbyd.com. This one-call notification system informs multiple owners and operators of underground facilities of a proposed excavation.”  

According to Able, anyone in the state planning an outdoor project that requires excavating or digging with power or mechanized equipment, must, by law, notify CBYD before they begin digging. Excavation activities would include demolition of structures, trenching, grading, tunneling, ditching auguring and tunneling. 

Also continuing this month, Able adds, will be the discussion portion of the breakfast roundtable program. Time permitting, each person taking part will be asked to submit a question for discussion and everyone in the room will be invited to share their opinion regarding the issue.  

Admission to the roundtable is free, but pre-registration is required. To register for the breakfast roundtable or for additional information, please contact Able at (860) 263-6902, or via email at able.john@dol.gov.

Media contact: Nancy Steffens  (860) 263-6535