HAMDEN — With residents working from home because of Governor Ned Lamont’s Executive Order for social distancing due to the coronavirus, more home DIY projects are underway and they can bring the danger of exposure to hits on vital public utility lines with them.

Digging without knowing what is below the surface risks causing property damage, injury, and even death, according to representatives of Call Before You Dig.

April is National Safe Digging month, and Call Before You Dig is reminding Connecticut homeowners and contractors about public safety and to go to www.cbyd.com for their e-ticket — or call 811 at least two full working days before digging during construction projects this season.

The service is free and is required by law.

Call Before You Dig is a non-profit corporation in Hamden that was set up in 1974 to ensure the safety of underground utilities and the public in Connecticut. It is comprised of a clearinghouse of owners and operators of underground utility facilities with a call center in operation.

Once you get your e-ticket, utility companies will come out and mark your property with paint or flags to show anything underground so that you can avoid them. This process helps you to avoid fines, outages, inconveniences, injury, and possibly even death — so please help to keep yourself and your neighbors safe.

The team at CBYD is also poised to launch a new tool called Positive Response. It is an enhancement that will allow excavators to see the status of their locate requests in advance of their start date.

It provides excavators information such as who has finished locating their lines, if there are any facilities in conflict, and gives them a record of how the involved utilities responded to their locate requests with documentation added to their copy of the Call Before You Dig (CBYD811) ticket.

For utilities who opt in, it will offer reminders to report before work begins.

Connecticut’s Public Utility Regulatory Authority or PURA website has information about hits on utilities and any resulting injuries.

“As we move into the warmer weather months, we want to stress to homeowners especially the importance of calling ‘8-1-1’ before you dig — even in your own yard,” stated PURA chairman Marissa P. Gillett. “The service is free, easy to use, and it’s the law. We’re in our 42nd year of damage prevention and view this as a critical strategy to keeping residents and workers safe.”

PURA plays the role of the enforcer for CBYD and excavators. If somebody violates the regulations, PURA will investigate it, conduct a hearing, and possibly prosecute them with fines.

The latest posted report shows 163 fines paid the previous year for a total of $457,950.

On December 6, 1985, the building that housed the River Restaurant in Derby exploded after the town had just installed a 24-inch sewer system in the street next to the building. An 87-year-old gas line was ruptured during the installation of the sewer lines, according to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

It remains one of the Naugatuck Valley’s deadliest events. Six people were killed and everyone within a ten-block area was forced to evacuate.

Learn more about Call Before You Dig by visiting the PURA CBYD portal.ct.gov/PURA/Gas-Pipeline-Safety/Call-Before-You-Dig/CBYD — or cbyd.com.