A. Dig Safe System Membership
1. Members
a. An underground facility operator, as defined in Section 2(V), must join the Dig Safe System. Any other operator may voluntarily join the Dig Safe System.
b. All members of the Dig Safe System shall pay to the Dig Safe System the cost of operation apportioned to the members pursuant to Subsection 5(B)(6).
c. All members of the Dig Safe System shall maintain communications equipment that is compatible with the Dig Safe System's communication equipment maintained pursuant to Subsection 5(B)(3).
d. Except as otherwise provided in this provision of the rule, each Dig Safe System member shall provide to the Dig Safe System the location of all underground facilities that the member would be obligated to mark upon receipt of notice pursuant to Section 6(B). The location of facilities may be indexed by street or in any more specific manner consistent with Dig Safe System methodology. The operator shall provide the information to the Dig Safe System to use in its notification process and, unless otherwise specified in this rule, the operator shall provide the information in a format that the Dig Safe System is capable of using, such as electronic or digital format, or by drawing the specific location of any underground facilities on maps provided by the Dig Safe System.
i. Telephone and cable service drops exempt. Telephone utilities and cable operators are not required under this provision to provide to the Dig Safe System the location of service drops from a main line to customer premises. As a result, if a telephone utility or cable operator only has a service drop in the area of a proposed excavation, the telephone utility or cable operator will not receive notice from the Dig Safe System of the proposed excavation and will not therefore be required to mark the service drop. If, however, the telephone utility or cable operator has other underground facilities in the area of the proposed excavation, the telephone utility or cable operator will receive notice from the Dig Safe System of the proposed excavation and the telephone utility or cable operator will be required to mark all of its underground facilities within the area of the proposed excavation including telephone or cable drops.
ii. Water utility transmission mains waiver. The Commission shall grant a waiver from this provision for any water utility transmission mains that are downstream of a treatment plant or underground water source and may require the water utility to provide the Dig Safe System with an alternative method of facility location specification, such as a corridor, for notification purposes.
iii. Unless a member operator has provided the Dig Safe System with the location of planned new facilities no fewer than 21 business days prior to installation, the member operator shall provide to the Dig Safe System the location of newly installed and newly discovered facilities or portions of those facilities, no later than 21 business days after a newly installed facility or portion of a facility is covered with soil or other material or after the location of a facility is discovered pursuant to subsection 6(B)(6). For the purposes of this subsection, a facility or portion of a facility is considered covered with soil or other material if it is not visible because of the presence of the soil or other material.
2. Non-members. An operator that is not a member of the Dig Safe System pursuant to Subsection 6(A)(1) shall, upon receipt of the notice provided for in Subsection 4(B)(2), mark the location of its underground facilities in accordance with Section 6(B).
B. Marking
1. Purpose. An operator shall, upon receipt of the notice provided in Subsection 4(B)(2) or Section 5, advise the excavator of the location and size of the operator's underground facilities and all underground facilities used in furnishing electric or gas service that are connected to the operator's facilities, located in the public way and known to the operator within the area of the proposed excavation by marking the location of the facilities in accordance with this subsection. If the operator determines that there are no facilities in the proposed excavation area that it is obligated to mark, it shall inform the excavator in writing, prior to the expiration of the excavator's waiting period, either by electronic facsimile, text, or e-mail or by placing marks at the excavation site that so indicate.
2. Time requirements
a. Initial marking. The operator shall complete marking no later than two business days after receipt of the notice provided for in Section 5 or Subsection 4(B)(2), unless the proposed excavation is of such length or size that the operator cannot reasonably mark all its underground facilities within two business days. In such an instance, the operator shall inform the excavator, and the excavator shall notify the operator of the location in which excavation will first be made. The operator shall mark the underground facilities in that location within two business days and will mark the remaining facilities as soon as practicable.
b. Re-marking. Following an excavator's request to re-mark an excavation area pursuant to Subsection 4(C)(3), an operator shall again mark this location within one business day.
c. Emergencies. An operator shall mark its underground facilities as soon as practicable after receiving notification of an emergency excavation pursuant to Subsection 4(C)(1).
d. Test holes. After receiving notification pursuant to Section 5 or Subsection 4(B)(2), if an operator must dig test holes in order to locate its underground facilities, other operators within the premarked area shall mark their facilities within one business day of notification from the excavating operator or within a time frame agreed upon by the excavator.
3. Markers. The operator shall use paint, stakes, flags or other appropriate means to mark its underground facilities. The physical characteristics in the area of the proposed excavation shall be considered when determining the type of marker to be utilized. Markers shall conform to the color code established by the Dig Safe System, as follows:
a. Red: electric power lines, cables, conduit, or lighting cables;
b. Yellow: gas, oil, steam, petroleum, or gaseous materials;
c. Orange: communication, alarm, or signal lines, cables, or conduits;
d. Blue: water, irrigation, or slurry lines;
e. Green: sewers or drain lines; and
f. Purple: reclaimed water, irrigation, and slurry lines.
4. Marking procedures
a. Identification. Marking shall identify changes in direction or terminations occurring within the immediate area of the proposed excavation. Where practical, all marking methods shall indicate the width of the underground facility. Markings shall be made at intervals of no more than 25 feet.
b. Tolerance zone. Except if using the centerline marking method described in Subsection 6(B)(4)(c)(2), the operator shall mark a finite area, designated the "tolerance zone," on each side of the underground facility. The operator shall also indicate the depth of the facility, if known. In all circumstances, the tolerance zone for each facility will be an area 18 inches for member operators and 36 inches for non-member operators on each side of the facility for the length of the facility.
c. Marking methods. The operator shall use one of the following marking methods to establish the tolerance zone of an underground facility:
i. The corridor marking method. This method involves placing markers at either boundary of the tolerance zone, such that the markers will be placed away from the facility centerline 18 inches for member operators and 36 inches for non-member operators, plus one-half the width of the facility. If an operator maintains two or more facilities in close proximity to each other within the excavation area, one tolerance zone may include both facilities. In this instance, the boundaries of the zone shall be established by locating the boundaries of each separate facility and placing markers 18 inches for member operators and 36 inches for non-member operators from the outer boundaries of the multiple facilities. In this circumstance, the operator shall mark the centerline of each facility within the marked boundaries.
ii. The centerline marking method. This method involves placing markers directly over the centerline of the facility, permitting the excavator to establish boundaries of the tolerance zone at points located 18 inches for member operators and 36 inches for non-member operators, plus half the width of the facility from the markers. The width of the facility shall be indicated upon the markers. If an operator maintains two or more facilities in close proximity to each other within the excavation area, the operator shall place markers over the centerline of each facility.
iii. The offset marking method. This method involves locating the centerline of the facility by placing markers at locations that parallel the facility. The offset marking methods shall be used only when it is impractical to use either the corridor or centerline methods. The markers used for the offset marking methods shall indicate the distance and direction to the centerline of the facility and its width.
5. Newly installed facilities. Unless an operator has reason to know that no other excavation will occur in the excavation area within 30 calendar days of the time a newly installed facility is covered with soil or other material, the operator shall mark the location of the newly installed facility or portion of the facility in accordance with subsections 6(B)(3) and 6(B)(4), no later than one business day after the newly installed facility or portion of that facility is covered with soil or other material. For the purposes of this section, a facility or portion of a facility is considered covered with soil or other material if it is not visible because of the presence of the soil or other material.
6. Discovered facilities. Following an excavator's notification of discovery of an unmarked facility pursuant to Subsection 4(D)(1), an operator shall determine the location of the facility from the point of discovery to the points at which the facility intersects with a known facility or the points at which the facility ends without intersecting with a known facility. No later than 21 business days after the excavator notifies the operator of the discovery of the facility, the operator shall notify the Commission of the location of the facility and, if the operator is a member operator, of its notification of the Dig Safe System pursuant to subsection 6(A)(1)(d)(iii). If the operator believes that it is unable to locate the facility pursuant to this subsection, it shall provide an explanation to the Commission of the reasons for its failure to locate. If the Commission determines that location is unreasonably difficult, it may grant a waiver from the locating requirements of this subsection.
C. Reporting
1. Report to Commission. An operator shall report to the Commission when it has reason to believe that one or more damage prevention incidents as defined in Section 2(E-1) have occurred regardless of whether there is damage to underground facilities.
The damage prevention incident shall be reported by 1) calling the Commission as soon as possible at (207) 287-3831 and 2) completing the Underground Facilities Damage Prevention Incident Report form available from the Commission (207 287-3831 or http://www.maine.gov/mpuc). The operator shall submit this written report within 10 days of discovering a suspected violation.
In the event of a serious damage prevention incident as defined in Section 2(S-1) occurs, the operator shall also provide notice to the Commission immediately, after all urgent safety matters have been addressed, in a manner consistent with the most recent notification procedures provided by the Commission.
Any person may report to the Commission any other failure to comply with this rule or other concerns regarding underground facilities damage prevention, using the Underground Facility Damage Prevention Incident Report form.
2. Annual activity report. An operator, except a municipality or a utility with fewer than 5 full time employees or fewer than 300 customers, shall submit a report to the Commission within 75 days after the end of each calendar year that states the total number of excavation notifications received by the operator during the previous year and the total miles of underground facilities it operates.
3. New underground facilities. An operator shall notify the Commission in writing immediately when installing, or when it newly identifies, underground facilities that it is obligated to mark pursuant to Section 6(B) in a municipality in which it did not previously have such underground facilities and shall indicate whether it is a member or a non-member of the Dig Safe System.
4. Non-member operator registration. Each non-member operator shall register with the Commission providing its name, the name and telephone number of a contact person for excavation notifications, an email address and fax number where available, and the municipalities, townships, or other civil divisions or territories in which it has underground facilities for use in the Commission's OKTODIG database. The non-member operator shall notify the Commission in writing within 10 business days of any changes to this information and shall renew its registration annually by January 31 each year certifying the accuracy of the information on file with the Commission. This requirement does not apply to an entity that only owns underground facilities on its own property for commercial or residential purposes.
D. Natural Gas Operators
1. Applicability. The provisions of this subsection are applicable to gas operators. For the purposes of this subsection, a gas operator is a natural gas pipeline utility or a gas utility other than a gas utility over which the Commission has limited safety jurisdiction pursuant to 35-A M.R.S.A. ยง4702.
2. Excavation notice to fire departments. In addition to providing other notices required under this rule, before commencing any excavation for the purpose of working on an underground transmission line, a gas operator shall provide notice of any excavation to the Fire Department within whose service area the excavation will occur. This notice must be in writing or by telephone and must be given at least three business days prior to excavation. Work may not commence until the operator has received from the Fire Department an acknowledgement of the notice either by telephone or in writing.
3. Emergency management information. Each gas operator shall provide maps that clearly indicate the location and depth of all main supply underground gas facilities to the following jurisdictions:
a. each municipality within which it operates;
b. each fire department within whose service territory it operates;
c. the county emergency management agency for each county within which it operates; and
d. the Maine Emergency Management Agency.
Within 21 business days of changing the configuration of a gas operator's main supply underground gas facility, the gas operator must provide updated maps to the appropriate entities.
E. Legal Effect of Non-compliance
1. Members. If an operator does not provide all information pursuant to Section 6(B) or the information provided fails to identify the location of the underground facilities in accordance with Section 6(B) or if the Dig Safe System does not provide all information pursuant to Section 5(A), and an excavator complies with all excavator responsibilities described in Section 4(A) and Subsection 4(B)(1) or Subsection 4(B)(1)(a)(ii), then an excavator is not liable for any damage or injury caused by the excavation, except on proof of negligence.
2. Non-members. If an excavator provides notice to non-member operators pursuant to Subsection 4(B)(2), and if a non-member operator fails to mark the location of its facilities pursuant to Section 6(B), then an excavator is not liable for any damage or injury caused by the excavation, except on proof of negligence.
F. Abandoned or Inactive Facilities
1. Operators with an electronic mapping system. Beginning on the date an owner or operator of underground facilities is required by the Public Utilities Commission to implement electronic mapping under Chapter 140 of the Commission's Rules, the owner or operator shall indicate the existence of facilities abandoned or inactive after that date in its electronic mapping system and shall notify an excavator when abandoned or inactive underground facilities exist in the area of a proposed excavation.
2. Operators without an electronic mapping system. If an owner or operator of an underground facility is not required to maintain an electronic mapping system under Chapter 140 of the Commission's rules, the owner or operator shall notify an excavator of any abandoned or inactive facilities in the area of a proposed excavation of which it is aware. An operator shall be conclusively presumed to be aware of any facilities abandoned after March 28, 2002.
3. When notifying an excavator that abandoned or inactive underground facilities exist in the area of the proposed excavation, the operator must also inform the excavator that:
a. In addition to the abandoned or inactive facilities, there may also be unmarked, active facilities within the excavation area; and
b. Anytime an unmarked underground facility is discovered during excavation, the excavator must treat the line as active and notify the operator of the facility, as soon as possible.
Upon receiving notification from the excavator that an unmarked facility has been discovered, the operator must visit the site and positively identify whether the facility is active or inactive.