National Grid Tips of the Trade

Welcome to National Grid’s Tips of the Trade. National Grid is committed to your safety, and these tips are intended to help you work safely near our natural gas pipelines. Please review these tips with your coworkers at your tailgate or toolbox meetings before work begins.

Dig safely near high‑pressure gas pipelines

Excavation damage to high‑pressure natural gas transmission pipelines can lead to catastrophic fires and explosions. Special supervision requirements apply when digging near these pipelines.

Excavation‑related damage can be deadly

National Grid’s high‑pressure transmission pipelines transport large volumes of natural gas. Accidental damage during excavation poses a great risk to these pipelines. Even a tiny gouge, scrape, dent or crease to a high‑pressure pipeline or its coating can cause a gas leak that could ignite or explode.

Supervision reduces the risk

Always notify your local 811 service before you dig to have buried gas pipelines and other utility lines in your dig area located and marked. If your 811 locate indicates that you will be digging within 15 feet of a high‑pressure natural gas transmission pipeline in Massachusetts or Downstate New York or 20 feet of one in Upstate New York, supervision requirements apply:

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Before digging, you must attend an on‑site meeting and/or have contact with qualified National Grid representatives to help reduce the risk of excavation‑related damage.

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National Grid MUST be at the site during the excavation.

You must contact National Grid to coordinate a pre‑job meeting.

National Grid representatives meeting with contractors near pipeline marker

Notify 811 to learn pipeline locations

Permanent, aboveground markers are placed near pipelines but not necessarily directly on top of them. Do NOT rely on these markers to determine how close a pipeline is to your excavation. Instead, request a utility locate through the 811 service.

Dial 811 or make an online request at least 72 hours before digging in Massachusetts (excluding weekends and legal holidays) and at least two full working days in New York (excluding the date of your request, weekends and legal holidays). It’s the law!