Positive Response
Under Minnesota law, underground facility operators must respond to every ticket they receive from GSOC, even if there are no underground facilities in the excavation area.
A facility operator may mark the facilities in the field, mark the area as all clear, or enter a positive response electronically using Search & Status. Because of this, the responses in GSOC’s system may be supplemented by information observed in the field.
If the facility operator cannot complete marking of the excavation or boundary survey area before the start time stated in the notice, the operator shall promptly contact the excavator or land surveyor.
Prior to the legal start date of a ticket the underground facility operator may, and frequently does, update, or change the status of the positive response listed with GSOC.
Furthermore, many facility operators have multiple responses for a single ticket and may list different departments or underground facilities operated by that same operator separately.
Make sure that each underground facility has been marked or cleared before you commence any excavation.
Ticket Responses
The following ticket responses are used in GSOC positive responses:
- Not Yet Responded: Facility operator has not yet responded to the ticket. If you see this response on a ticket, the facility operator has not given clearance to excavate. Look for marks or clear flags in the field. If you see this on a ticket and do not find marks or clear flags in the field, contact the facility operator directly to determine if it is safe to excavate.
- Clear/No Conflict: The underground facility operator has indicated that the area identified on the ticket (but not any other area) is clear of underground facilities. When the excavator marks the excavation area in white paint, then only the area identified in white paint is cleared and not the entire address identified on the ticket.
- Marked: The area is marked in the field. Please confirm marks are in fact in the field and, if missing, do not excavate until the discrepancy is resolved.
- Marking Will Be Delayed: This response is used for an unexpected situation that has prevented the underground facility operator from marking prior to the legal start date.
If this situation has not been resolved prior to the legal start date, do not start excavating. Contact the facility operator to determine why the facility has not marked or cleared. Until the situation has been resolved with the underground facility operator, an unsafe condition may exist in the field.
GSOC cannot resolve an issue between an underground facility operator and an excavator regarding marking or positive response. - Not Complete/In Progress: The locator has not completed work and excavation should not begin. This response is used when the locator has begun the process of locating underground facilities, but that process is not yet complete. It may be used on an interim basis to indicate that some markings are in place, but others will be added later.
- Non-Excavation: This response is only available for Planning tickets.
- Maps Provided: This response is only available for Planning tickets.
- Marked, Critical Facilities in Area: The facility operator wants to make the excavator aware of critical facilities.
- No Access to Site: The locator is not able to access the excavation area. This does not mean that the area is clear of conflicts. Contact the operator to arrange access so the excavation area may be marked.
- Marked per Meet Schedule: This response is used for Meet and Design/Pre-Con Meet tickets.
- Agreed to Marking Schedule: This response is used for Meet and Design/Pre-Con Meet tickets.
- Maps Provided: Maps of abandoned lines are provided.
- Maps Provided Per Agreement: For Boundary Survey tickets, maps are provided per agreement between excavator and facility operator.