April Showers Bring… National Safe Digging Month

Gaines received Miss Utility’s Dig Smart Award several times for our safe digging practices.

Ahhh, Spring! Welcome birds, flowers, fresh Spring air, and… National Safe Digging Month! Years ago, damage prevention was a stressful topic at Gaines. But today, it’s just the way we work, and our performance speaks for itself.

Gaines and Company’s safe digging practices are centered around taking time to do our work the right way, the first time.

“This was once an area that we really struggled with as an organization,” said Safety Director Dominic Pope. “When I came to Gaines 13 years ago, I made it my mission to improve our damage prevention practices.”

Our hydrovac truck uses water to remove soil and expose underground utilities, decreasing the risk of damage to the lines.

Not only has our damage prevention record continued to improve over the years, but we’ve actually been recognized several times for our consistent high-performance with Miss Utility’s coveted Dig Smart Award and the Dig Smart Honorable Mention Award. In fact, while the construction industry’s excavation incident numbers continue to struggle, we have transformed our safety culture for the good.

Through using a trench box or verifying utility lines, our crews take extra steps to ensure crew safety, while protecting underground infrastructure, the environment, and the community.

Before beginning any excavation work, we first plan. We ensure we have a succinct flow of communication throughout the team, leave time to strictly follow 811 policies (even verifying lines ourselves), dig adequate trenches, and use the right tools for the job. By meeting – and often exceeding – safe digging practices, we ensure the safety of our team, the integrity of underground utilities, and a successful delivery of our expert site development work.

“Whether there is an uptick or downtick in industry excavation incident numbers, it’s not going to change the way we operate,” said Dominic. “Our entire organization has worked hard to get here, and we aren’t stopping now.”

Gaines and Company is a full-service grading and excavation company with offices in Maryland and North Carolina. The organization has over 70 years of experience in underground utilities, grading and excavating, sediment and erosion controls, and road work. Gaines and Company delivers safe, reliable, turnkey site development services in Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C. on time and within budget.