John Deere, headquartered in Moline, Ill., has announced that it is a major sponsor of National 811 Day on Aug. 11. The day has been set aside by the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) to promote homeowner, contractor and farmer awareness of underground utilities through the use of its national 811 call-before-you-dig phone number.
“Our customers are individuals who work the land and their safety is a high priority for John Deere,” says Samuel R. Allen, chief executive officer of Deere & Company. “It’s vital to call attention to homeowners, farmers and contractors that one simple call to 811 before they dig can prevent injuries, property damage and inconvenient outages of important services.”
The FCC-designated 811 number was launched in 2007 by the CGA to eliminate the confusion of multiple call-before-you-dig numbers that were being used across the country. As a result, homeowners, farmers and contractors can call one easy-to-remember number to have crews mark a requested site for underground lines prior to any excavation.
“In 2004, it was estimated that there were 450,000 instances of damage from striking underground lines,” says Bob Kipp, president of CGA. “As a result of a lot of factors, including establishing the 811 national number, strikes had decreased around 50 percent since – but that’s still not enough. Even one fatality is too many.”
More information about the CGA and National 811 Day is available at www.commongroundalliance.com/.