Utility Strike
During Excavation.
A trenching bucket finds a line nobody marked, and a routine septic job becomes somebody else’s emergency.
We shop your septic business with carriers like
Which policy actually responds
And, just as importantly, which one does not.
General liability
Third-party property damage from your operations. Note exclusion j: the particular part of real property you were working on is excluded, though damage elsewhere is not.
Not your own re-work
The cost to redo your own excavation is yours. See general liability.
Commercial auto, if the machine was a covered auto
Depends on the equipment and the symbols on your policy.
Workers compensation, for injury
An electrical or gas strike injures the operator before it damages anyone’s property.
What stops it happening to you
The real nationwide duty is OSHA’s
The estimated location of utility installations must be determined before opening an excavation, with detection equipment used where the operator cannot respond within 24 hours.
Your legal duty to notify comes from your state
Every state has a one-call statute. 811 is the routing number, not the mandate. Know your state’s notice period.
Hand-dig near the marks
Marks indicate a tolerance zone, not a precise line. Most strikes in marked areas are mechanical excavation inside the zone.
Document the ticket
A one-call ticket number and photographs of the marks is the difference between a defensible position and a contested one.
Underground Utility Strike During Excavation
What actually happened
We are writing this one from the rules rather than from a named incident, deliberately. The documented strikes we reviewed are either under active federal investigation, or are cases where fault is contested between the contractor and the utility locating service. Naming a contractor while an investigation is open, or while fault is genuinely disputed, would be unfair and legally unwise. What is well documented is the pattern: strikes concentrate where locates were not requested, were requested but not marked, or were marked and then not respected by hand-digging near the marks.
Sources: OSHA safety bulletin on underground utility strikes
Answered by Septic Cleaning Insurance Group
We only write this trade, and we read the policy before we sell it. More on the operations we insure and the coverage behind them.
Straight answers, no insurance-speak
Third-party property damage from your operations. Note exclusion j: the particular part of real property you were working on is excluded, though damage elsewhere is not.
The cost to redo your own excavation is yours. See general liability.
The estimated location of utility installations must be determined before opening an excavation, with detection equipment used where the operator cannot respond within 24 hours.
A one-call ticket number and photographs of the marks is the difference between a defensible position and a contested one.
That depends on your endorsements rather than your limits. Two policies with identical limits can behave completely differently on this scenario. Send your declarations including the endorsement schedule and we will tell you what we find.
Same day. Every time. That is an operating rule here, not a marketing promise.
Get Your Underground Utility Strike During Excavation Septic Insurance Quote
A few quick questions about your operation. Takes about 2 minutes. Prefer to talk first? Call (855) 461-2010.
Would your policy answer this one?
Send us the declarations pages and the endorsements. We will tell you plainly, before we quote anything.
No pressure. If we’re not the right fit for your business, we’ll tell you straight.
Other claims septic contractors actually face
Septic contractor insurance in your state
Rules and regulators change at every state line. Pick yours.