Section 42.30.410. Operator's response to request to locate; immunity related to unmarked or inaccurately marked facilities.

   (a) An underground facility operator shall accept requests to locate underground facilities during the operator's regular business hours. An operator who receives a request to locate shall maintain for at least one year an accurate record of the request and responses to the request.
   (b) When an underground facility operator receives a request to locate, it shall notify the excavator of the location of the underground facilities that the operator is able to field mark with reasonable accuracy and field mark those facilities. If the operator owns, uses, or operates an underground facility that is identified as being in the area of the proposed excavation but that the operator cannot field mark with reasonable accuracy, the operator shall provide the excavator with the best information available to the operator about its location and shall provide on-site assistance until the facility is located or until the excavator no longer needs assistance in locating that facility.
   (c) The field marks for an underground facility buried 10 feet deep or less must be located within 24 horizontal inches of the outside dimensions of the facility. For a facility buried deeper than 10 feet, the operator shall locate the field marks within 30 horizontal inches of the outside dimensions of the facility. The operator shall use stakes, paint, or other clearly identifiable material to show the field location of the underground facility. The marker used to designate the approximate location of an underground facility must follow the current color code standard used by the American Public Works Association.
   (d) Except for an underground facility in a remote, unstaffed, or inaccessible location, an underground facility operator shall respond to a request to locate promptly. A response is considered to be prompt if it is made within two working days after the operator receives the request or at a later time so long as the response occurs before the beginning of the excavation. For an underground facility in an accessible remote or unstaffed location, the operator shall respond within 10 working days after the operator receives the request or at a later time so long as the response occurs before the beginning of excavation.
   (e) After an operator has field marked an underground facility, the excavator is responsible for maintaining the markings.
   (f) An excavator may not begin to excavate until each underground facility has been field marked.
   (g) When an operator has field marked an underground facility once at the request of an excavator, the operator has the right to receive compensation from the excavator for costs incurred in responding to subsequent requests to locate the same underground facility during the same excavation project if the excavator failed to maintain the original marking.
   (h) If an excavator discovers an underground facility that was not field marked or was inaccurately field marked, the excavator shall immediately stop excavating in the vicinity of the facility and shall notify the operator of the discovery. The excavator may notify the operator by means of a notification center. The operator shall treat the notification as a request to locate in an emergency and shall respond accordingly. An excavator may not be held liable for inadvertent damage caused to an unmarked or an inaccurately marked underground facility.
   (i) Unless the request to locate is made in response to an emergency, an underground facility operator has the right to receive compensation for costs incurred in responding to a request to locate that gives the operator less notice than the minimum notice required by this section. This subsection may not be interpreted to require the operator to respond to the request to locate within the time requested in the notice.

Notes

History

(Sec. 1 ch 68 SLA 1998)