Fla. Stat. § 556.102 — Florida Code / Title XXXIII / Chapter 556 / Section 556.102
556.102 Definitions.
Status: in_force

As used in this act:

(1) “Business days” means Monday through Friday, excluding the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and the following Friday, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. Any such holiday that falls on a Saturday shall be observed on the preceding Friday. Any such holiday that falls on a Sunday shall be observed on the following Monday.

(2) “Business hours” means the hours of a day during which the system is open for business.

(3) “Damage” means any impact upon or contact with, including, without limitation, penetrating, striking, scraping, displacing, or denting, however slight, the protective coating, housing, or other protective devices of any underground facility, or the removal or weakening of any lateral or vertical support from any underground facility, or the severance, partial or complete, of any underground facility.

(4) “Demolish” or “demolition” means any operation by which a structure or mass of material is wrecked, razed, rended, moved, or removed by means of any tool, equipment, or discharge of explosives, or any disturbance of the earth in any manner on public or private lands which could damage any underground facility.

(5) “Design services” means services that may be provided by a member operator to a design engineer, architect, surveyor, or planner, if the presence of underground facilities is known to a member operator, upon payment of a fee to the member operator, which services may be based on: (a) Information obtained solely from a review of utility records. (b) Information to augment utility records, such as topographic surveying of above-ground utility features. (c) Information obtained through the use of designating technologies to obtain horizontal underground facility locations. (d) Information obtained from physically exposing underground facilities.

(6) “Excavate” or “excavation” means any manmade cut, cavity, trench, or depression in the earth’s surface, formed by removal of earth, intended to change the grade or level of land, or intended to penetrate or disturb the surface of the earth, including land beneath the waters of the state, as defined in s. 373.019(22), and the term includes pipe bursting and directional drilling or boring from one point to another point beneath the surface of the earth, or other trenchless technologies.

(7) “Excavator” or “excavating contractor” means any person performing excavation or demolition operations.

(8) “High-priority subsurface installation” means an underground gas transmission or gas distribution pipeline, or an underground pipeline used to transport gasoline, jet fuel, or any other refined petroleum product or hazardous or highly volatile liquid, such as anhydrous ammonia or carbon dioxide, if the pipeline is deemed to be critical by the operator of the pipeline and is identified as a high-priority subsurface installation to an excavator who has provided a notice of intent to excavate under s. 556.105(1), or would have been identified as a high-priority subsurface installation except for the excavator’s failure to give proper notice of intent to excavate.

(9) “Incident” means an event that involves damage to a high-priority subsurface installation that has been identified as such by the operator according to the notification procedures set forth in s. 556.116(1) and that: (a) Results in death or serious bodily injury requiring inpatient hospitalization. (b) Results in property damage, including service-restoration costs, in an amount in excess of $50,000 or an interruption of service to 2,500 or more customers.

(10) “Member operator” means any person who furnishes or transports materials or services by means of an underground facility.

(11) “Permanent marker” means a clearly visible indication of the approximate location of an underground facility which is made of material that is durable in nature and which is reasonably expected to remain in position for the life of the underground facility.

(12) “Person” means any individual, firm, joint venture, partnership, corporation, association, municipality, or other political subdivision, governmental unit, department, or agency, and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative of a person.

(13) “Positive response” means the communications among member operators, excavators, and the system concerning the status of locating an underground facility.

(14) “Premark” means to delineate the general scope of the excavation on the surface of the ground using white paint, white stakes, or other similar white markings.

(15) “Tolerance zone” means 24 inches from the outer edge of either side of the exterior surface of a marked underground facility.

(16) “Underground facility” means any public or private personal property which is buried, placed below ground, or submerged on any member operator’s right-of-way, easement, or permitted use which is being used or will be used in connection with the storage or conveyance of water; sewage; electronic, telephonic, or telegraphic communication; electric energy; oil; petroleum products; natural gas; optical signals; or other substances, and includes, but is not limited to, pipelines, pipes, sewers, conduits, cables, valves, and lines. For purposes of this act, a liquefied petroleum gas line regulated under chapter 527 is not an underground facility unless such line is subject to the requirements of Title 49 C.F.R. adopted by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, provided there is no encroachment on any member operator’s right-of-way, easement, or permitted use. Petroleum storage systems subject to regulation pursuant to chapter 376 are not considered underground facilities for the purposes of this act unless the storage system is located on a member operator’s right-of-way or easement. Storm drainage systems are not considered underground facilities.

(17) “System” means a free-access notification system established by the corporation as provided in this act.

History: s. 2, ch. 93-240; s. 2, ch. 94-132; s. 5, ch. 95-317; s. 2, ch. 97-306; s. 2, ch. 2002-234; s. 67, ch. 2006-1; s. 2, ch. 2006-138; s. 7, ch. 2012-150; s. 2, ch. 2020-137; s. 42, ch. 2021-51.