GPS on the excavator put me 4 feet off and I nicked a gas line in Allentown
Was cutting a trench for a new water line on a job in Allentown last Tuesday and the machine's GPS screen said I was right on the mark. Turns out the base station had been knocked over by a delivery truck that morning and nobody reset it, so my whole line was drifting about 4 feet east. I caught it when the bucket scraped something that wasn't dirt, and sure enough it was a gas main we were supposed to stay clear of by 5 feet. Killed the machine, called 811, and we stood around for two hours while the utility crew checked it out, no leak thank god. Now I walk the whole line with a shovel and stake it before I trust the screen. Anyone else get burned by a base station getting bumped and not noticing?