What is an important consideration when marking underground utilities?

When marking underground utilities, one of the most crucial considerations is location accuracy to avoid damage during excavation. Accurately identifying and marking the precise location of utilities ensures that excavators can avoid striking these utilities, which can lead to dangerous situations, injuries, or costly damages. This helps maintain safety on the work site, prevents service disruptions, and avoids potential legal liabilities associated with damaging utility infrastructure.

While factors such as color coding and depth of the utilities are important for providing information about the type and location of utilities, they ultimately serve the greater goal of ensuring accurate location. Cost effectiveness, though crucial from a project management perspective, does not supersede the imperative of protecting workers and the utilities themselves from damage. Therefore, ensuring location accuracy is paramount in utility marking practices.