CONTRACTORS - WHEN YOU DIG

When you start work:

• Always hand dig near to services, use spades and shovels rather than picks, pins or forks.
• It is possible that cables or pipes may be embedded in concrete. Electricity cables embedded in concrete MUST either be made 'dead' before the concrete is broken out or another safe way of working agreed with NIE.
• Services are sometimes protected by concrete, polythene or earthenware tiles or a marker tape may be laid above the service - this is a useful indication of the presence of the service, you should avoid disturbing any tile or tape to expose the service if possible. There are however, many services in existence, that have no tiles, tapes or other physical indication of their presence on site.

The Right Way to Dig!

Always dig by hand and use cable tracing equipment when working close to underground electricity cables.

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