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 facilities. Please review these tips with your coworkers at your tailgate or toolbox meetings before work begins.
Help us protect our energy assets. Keep rights-of-way safe and clear.
National Grid’s transmission lines transport electricity and natural gas throughout our service area. We ask for your help in keeping our rights-of-way free of construction activities, obstructions and vegetation, so that we can ensure the safe and reliable operation of these critical energy lines.
What are rights-of-way?
Rights-of-way are corridors of land of varying dimensions along each side of electric and/or natural gas transmission lines. National Grid may own the property within a right-of-way, or we may have purchased the rights to use the property through an easement with a landowner. Our right-of-way locations are usually marked on maps filed with local municipalities.
How we protect energy lines in our rights-of-way
We trim vegetation to keep trees and brush a safe distance away from electric power lines and to provide visibility for gas leak detection. We conduct aerial inspections to identify areas that may require maintenance. And we patrol our rights-of-way to check for disturbances or encroachments that may interfere with safe pipeline operation.
How you can help
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Do not plant trees or other vegetation within our rights-of-way. Trees can grow into power lines and/or interfere with fire safety, facility maintenance and leak detection activities.
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Call us to obtain permission for these construction or grading activities within a right-of-way easement: erecting fences; installing drains, ditches, wells or irrigation lines; establishing vehicle crossings; changing the elevation or grade; and pile driving or drilling. All of these activities can damage buried transmission lines and may require special precautions, utility oversight and/or additional permits from municipalities.
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If you see construction or excavation occurring near a natural gas pipeline marker or in a National Grid right-of-way with no utility personnel present, please call us to report it. These activities can damage buried lines and may block access for our personnel or for safety crews in the event of an emergency.
Please keep in mind that all aspects of the excavation industry are coping with the Covid-19 pandemic and everyone's resources have been affected. You can help prevent delays by notifying 811 of your planned excavation with as much lead time as possible: up to 10 working days for excavations in New York and 30 days in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
