When Damage Occurs
Minnesota law requires that if damage occurs to an underground facility or its protective coating, the excavator shall notify the operator promptly. Damage is defined as any impact with the underground facility.
An excavator cannot make an independent determination of whether damage has in fact occurred; that must be done only by the facility operator.
In addition to notifying the underground facility operator if damage occurs, excavators shall:
- Immediately notify 911 if damage results in the escape of any flammable, toxic, or corrosive gas or liquid.
- Immediately notify 911 if damage results in a situation that endangers life, health or property.
- In either situation, the excavator must also attempt to minimize the hazard until emergency responders arrive and complete their assessment of the situation. That may require the excavator to secure the scene or evacuate people from the hazard.
As soon as practical, notify the underground facility operator.
Find the phone numbers for facility operators on your GSOC ticket. In addition, many operators include phone numbers on their permanent markers.
If safe to do so, take pictures of the site for future reference.
GSOC recommends operators have emergency training procedures in place for their field personnel for how to assess and respond to emergency situations in the field.
In all other situations, the excavator must determine whether the damage has resulted in any risk to the public and take necessary action until representative(s) from the underground facility operator take control of the situation.
State law requires any repair be performed only by qualified personnel authorized by the underground facility operator. The excavator can never backfill or bury a damaged underground facility.
An “emergency” is defined by Minnesota State Statute 216D.01 subdivision 3 as “a condition that poses a clear and immediate danger to life, health or significan’t loss of property.” Work-scheduling problems or customer demands are not considered an emergency.
Call 911 whenever there is a release of flammable, toxic or corrosive gas or liquid, or if a dangerous situation has been created.
Examples of Emergencies:
- An unforeseen excavation necessary in order to prevent a condition that poses clear and immediate danger to life or health.
- An excavation required to repair a service outage.
- An excavation required to prevent significant and immediate property damage.
- The repair of an existing unstable condition which may result in an emergency.
Emergency locates should be given top priority by utilities. An excavator must maintain a continuously staffed telephone number throughout the emergency.
Upon receiving an immediate emergency notice, the facility operator must attempt to contact the excavator within one (1) hour by telephone and is required to visit the job site, locate, and mark within three hours of receiving the notice, unless the circumstance dictates otherwise.
Abandoned Facilities
Facility owners are required to maintain maps, drawings, diagrams, or other records of any abandoned or out-of-service underground facilities. It is the facility owner’s responsibility to give the excavator any known information about the abandoned facility’s location.
Commencing January 1, 2026, (or January 1, 2027, for certain smaller operators), a facility operator is required to collect geospatial location information or use another equivalent technology to develop “as built” drawings of newly abandoned facilities if exposed in the excavation area.
The facility owner will mark that abandoned facilities exist with a capital A inside a circle, either painted on the ground or on a locate flag. The symbol should be painted or put on a flag in the same APWA color as is required for marking the underground facilities. For example, if this symbol were found on a yellow flag it would represent an abandoned gas, oil, or steam line.
Even though the facility may be abandoned, it remains the property of the underground facility operator. As an excavator, you may not remove that abandoned facility from the ground without prior permission from the facility operator.
When notified of abandoned facilities existing in your proposed work site, gather as much knowledge and information as you can about the abandoned facility (i.e. type, size, color, material, location and possible depth).