56-265.17 - Notification required prior to excavation or demolition; waiting periods; marking of proposed site.
§ 56-265.17. Notification required prior to excavation or demolition; waitingperiods; marking of proposed site.
A. Except as provided in subsection G, no person, including operators, shallmake or begin any excavation or demolition without first notifying thenotification center for that area. Notice to the notification center shall bedeemed to be notice to each operator who is a member of the notificationcenter. The notification center shall provide the excavator with the identityof utilities that will be notified of the proposed excavation or demolition.Except for counties, cities, and towns, an excavator who willfully fails tonotify the notification center of proposed excavation or demolition shall beliable to the operator whose facilities are damaged by that excavator, forthree times the cost to repair the damaged property, provided the operator isa member of the notification center. The total amount of punitive damagesawarded under this section, as distinguished from actual damages, shall notexceed $10,000 in any single cause of action.
B. Except in the case of an emergency as defined in § 56-265.15, theexcavator may commence work under one of the following conditions:
1. After waiting forty-eight hours, beginning 7:00 a.m. the next working dayfollowing notice to the notification center;
2. At any time, if the excavator confirms that all applicable operators haveeither marked their underground utility lines or reported that no lines arepresent in the vicinity of the excavation or demolition. The confirmationshall be obtained by contacting or receiving information from thenotification center's excavator-operator information exchange system; or
3. If informed by the notification center that no operators are to benotified.
If any operator fails to respond to the excavator-operator informationexchange system as required by this chapter, the notification center shallrenotify any operator of its failure. This renotification shall notconstitute an exemption from the duties of the operator set forth in §56-265.19.
C. The excavator shall exercise due care at all times to protect undergroundutility lines. If, upon arrival at the site of a proposed excavation, theexcavator observes clear evidence of the presence of an unmarked utility linein the area of the proposed excavation, the excavator shall not beginexcavating until three hours after an additional call is made to thenotification center for the area. The operator of any unmarked utility lineshall respond within three hours of the excavator's call to the notificationcenter.
D. The excavator's notification shall be valid for fifteen working days from7:00 a.m. on the next working day following notice to the notificationcenter. Three working days before the end of the fifteen-working-day period,or at any time when line-location markings on the ground become illegible,the excavator intending to excavate shall contact the notification center andrequest the re-marking of lines. The operator shall re-mark the lines as soonas possible; however, the re-marking of the lines shall be completed withinforty-eight hours from 7:00 a.m. on the next working day following therequest for the re-mark. Such re-marking shall be valid for an additionalfifteen working days from 7:00 a.m. on the next working day following noticeto the notification center.
E. In the event a specific location of the excavation cannot be given asrequired by subdivision 2 of § 56-265.18, prior to notifying the notificationcenter pursuant to subsection A of this section, the person proposing toexcavate or demolish shall mark the route or boundary of the site of theproposed excavation or demolition by means of white paint, if practical.
F. The extent of the excavator's proposed work shall be a work area that canbe excavated within fifteen working days from 7:00 a.m. on the next workingday following notice to the notification center. The area covered under eachnotice shall not exceed one mile.
G. An excavator may request a special project notice from the notificationcenter for the purpose of notifying the operators of the excavator's desireto enter into an agreement for locating and protecting the operator'sunderground utility lines for a specific, unique or long-term project. Anexcavator using a special project notice shall have complete control over allactivities within the project area. The terms and conditions of suchagreements must be agreed upon, in writing, by the excavator and the operatorbefore excavation commences. Such agreement and compliance with the terms ofthe agreement shall constitute an exemption from the requirements ofsubsections A, B, C, D and E of this section.
(1979, c. 291; 1989, c. 448; 1992, c. 192; 1994, c. 890; 2002, c. 841.)