If you have ever wondered how Utilities get damaged, this image is a perfect example of what could have been a MAJOR outage. If you look at the picture, you will see the fenced off hole, fresh dirt around the hole, tracks from an excavator, but it is what you don’t see that is really troubling to us!
This company chose to dig directly on top of our infrastructure without following the laws. The Kansas Statues dictate that any excavation is required to be proceeded by a request to 811 to allow Utilities to locate underground lines. This company chose to ignore the laws and could have easily cost themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars and would have taken out vital Internet services for thousands and thousands of people.
No doubt accidents happen and utilities can and will get damaged even by the most vigilant crews, but digging without even an attempt to follow the laws appears to be willful negligence.
