SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS ON DISRUPTION OF SERVICES

    Many people just glance over the introductory Georgia 811 page and misinterpret it to say no locates are required if your not using mechanized digging equipment. One big issue many miss is the fact excavations are regulated not only by the Public Service Commission but also the Georgia Utility Facility Protection Act (GUFPA), enacted by the General Assembly in July 2000 which provides for the protection of the buried utility facility infrastructure within the State of Georgia and is updated regularly with latest changes made in 2020.  When digging all contractors and even homeowners are also regulated through the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the GPSC enforces minimum safety regulations for all jurisdictional intrastate gas pipelines in Georgia and the E.P.A. GASWCC Certified erosion training course is required for every contractor and their employees who disturb soil in any manner.  You don't hand a set of post hole diggers to an hourly hire and turn them loose anymore.

    Glance at the first paragraph on page one of the Georgia 811 site and you have missed well over 90% of rules and regulations your responsible to satisfy before you dig and we learned by cutting a few utilities, watching a few companies driven to bankruptcy by these rules and hiring legal counsel to review applicable both state and federal laws and regulations to excavation. We have four state plus two federal organizations we are responsible to know regulations, be properly trained and carry certification cards for some in the course of our daily work. A business that uses shovels or other tools that disturb the soil requires more than a strong back but a trained mind to legally operate in todays society. this protects your employees, company, customers and the public from mistakes that can cause harm, injury or disruption of utility services.

Excavators are required to give 48 hours' notice⁷ to the Utilities Protection Center prior to beginning blasting or excavating with mechanized excavating equipment.⁸ The notices contemplated by the statute are called "locate requests."⁹ Locate Requests must:

(2) state the name, address, and telephone number of the person who will engage in the blasting or excavating;

(3) describe the type of blasting or excavating to be engaged in by the person; and

(1) describe the land upon which the contractor wishes to blast or excavate, and must do so "with sufficient particularity," as defined by policies developed by the UPC to enable the Utilities to determine the precise piece of land involved;

(4) designate the date upon which the blasting or excavating will commence.¹⁰

But reading further you find this:

"the excavator must exercise "reasonable care" necessary to protect the underground facility. GUFPA defines these reasonable measures to include: hand digging, post holing, soft digging, vacuum excavation methods, pneumatic hand tools, and other methods approved by the Utilities or other generally accepted methods.²¹ In instances of excavations taking place parallel to an existing underground facility, the excavator should expose the existing facility at intervals necessary to avoid damage.^22"

So while a locate request is not required if using manual equipment, if in the course of digging any utility is damaged the person(s), company and others involved in the excavation and damage by paid subcontractor are responsible to pay for the damages. If the person who does the damage cannot pay then hiring company/person(s) and even the property owner can be held responsible to pay for the repairs as upheld in previous cases. Fines can be levied retroactively for not exercising "reasonable care" as obtaining a locate can be deemed part of reasonable care even if using manual equipment per above quoted regulations. In the late 1980s I cut a plastic gas line less than four inches deep in back yard of my home installing a bird feeder on a weekend and paid $3,000 in repair fees. The regulations were nowhere as strict then as now, locate was not required but because of the damage I was held financially responsible to pay what the gas company claimed was their cost to repair.. Now for the really important information regarding liability.

4. Liability of Violating Excavators

This measure of damages is quite broad. The violating excavator is liable for any "cost incurred" by the owner or operator, and does not appear to be subject to any "reasonableness" limitation. In other words, it appears that whatever the Utility claims to have been required to do to repair the facility is the actual measure of damages awarded to the Utility. In short, the Utility only needs to provide evidence of its actual "costs" without regard to the reasonableness of those costs.⁴⁶

From Senate Bill 117    (Became O.C.G.A. TITLE 25 Chapter 9)

"(b) When excavating or blasting is to take place within the tolerance zone, the excavator shall exercise such reasonable care as may be necessary for the protection of the utility facility or sewer lateral, including permanent markers and paint placed to designate utility facilities. This protection shall include, but may not be limited to, at least one of the following based on geographical and climate conditions: hand digging, post holing, soft digging, vacuum excavation methods, pneumatic hand tools, or other technical methods that may be developed. Other mechanical methods may be used with the approval of the facility owner or operator,"

  Above was interpreted by legal counsel that even using hand tools unless we know where all utilities are located for their protecition they must be marked to designate their location.  We have determined from having multiple attorneys review original UPC dig regulations and amendments once someththing is damaged if we did not get a locate request it does not matter if we used a tea spoon to carefully dig a hole and have been advised to protect ourselves from fines and litigation along with our clients to get our locate requests approved bbefore digging.

FROM THE 2020 GEORGIA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION REPORT

GEORGIA UTILITY FACILITY PROTECTION ACT (GUFPA) ENFORCEMENT

   Efforts to prevent damage to buried utilities in Georgia stem from the requirements of the Georgia Utility Facility Protection Act of 2000 which assigns responsibility for enforcement to the Georgia Public Service Commission. Facilities Protection is one of the few areas where Commission jurisdiction extends beyond the electric, telephone and natural gas industries. The PSC is responsible for enforcing the Call Before You Dig laws forall utility facilities. During 2020, system owners and operators reported 4,196 incidents where facilities were damaged. Over 50% of the damages were to natural gas lines, while the remaining damages were to non-gas facilities.

   Staff investigated 6,750 incidents for alleged violations of the GUFPA law. The enforcement actions in 2020 included mailing 219 hearing notices, 802 consent agreements, and 339 final orders. The Commission’s Hearing Officer heard nocases in 2020 due to the pandemic. Of the 5,117cases closed, 2,191 related to damaged natural gas lines. These cases concluded with the Commission’s levying $7,738,360 in civil penalties.

Georgia Utility Facility Protection Act (GUFPA) Website

MOST LOCATIONS HAVE MORE UNDERGROUND UTILITIES THAN OPEN WORK SPACE

A FULL 1/3 OF ALL SIGNS ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO INSTALL WITHOUT ENCROACHING ON R.O.W.

   The above middle and right photos are of a sign we submitted a dig order and two weeks later did not have an approval to dig as was not marked with UPC blaming covid 18 as reason. Our clients client was getting very upset about no sign on his property so we carefully installed the sign and waiting six weeks got order to remove and it had just been marked. If notice yellow lines run right up against rear two poles and yellow is gas. When we removed the posts carefully examined the rear holes using a yard stick to move dirt around to realize we had missed the gas line by under two inches. There was actually yellow paint on the pole which was closest to the gas line, I don't like risking my employees or my own life or your company to rush a job that has not been marked.

  The above right photo is from a site we worked and soon after leaving the box laying on ground serving the only U-Verse customer in the development connection shorted out.  Reason for disruption of service was the wire from this box going to edge of customers yard was rolled across top of ground and never buried. (77 lot subdivision with only three homes built) When we pulled truck off road to work we drove across the non buried wire which U-Verse did not locate because of only one client served and chose to take the risk. We had a UPC locate ticket cleared to dig but Ma Bell tried to blame us for the customers outage and cost of repairs. Our sign was placed over thirty feet from this connection and while we were able to prove our work did not cause the issue it took up over a full days time meeting techs and supervisors on site and multiple emails and phone calls over the course of over a week. This is part of the service we provide when we take on your installation but cannot protect ourselves or your company if did not follow the rules and have the site located.

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Phone: 770-535-SIGN (7446)  emails will often be returned faster than phone messages

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1212, Gainesville, GA 30503

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