GA Code § 25-9-3 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 25 - Fire Protection and Safety|Chapter 9 - Blasting or Excavating Near Utility Facilities|§ 25-9-3. Definitions

 As used in this chapter, the term:    "Abandoned utility facility" means a utility facility taken out of service by a facility owner or operator on or after January 1, 2001.   "Blasting" means any operation by which the level or grade of land is changed or by which earth, rock, buildings, structures, or other masses or materials are rended, torn, demolished, moved, or removed by the detonation of dynamite or any other explosive agent.   "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.   "Business hours" means the time from 7:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. local time on business days.   "Commission" means the Public Service Commission.   "Corporation" means any corporation; municipal corporation; county; authority; joint-stock company; partnership; association; business trust; cooperative; organized group of persons, whether incorporated or not; or receiver or receivers or trustee or trustees of any of the foregoing.   "Damage" means any impact or exposure that results in the need to repair a utility facility or sewer lateral due to the weakening or the partial or complete destruction of the facility or sewer lateral including, but not limited to, the protective coating, lateral support, cathodic protection, or the housing for the line, device, sewer lateral, or facility.   "Design locate request" means a communication to the utilities protection center in which a request for locating existing utility facilities for bidding, predesign, or advance planning purposes is made. A design locate request shall not be used for excavation purposes.   "Designate" means to stake or mark on the surface of the tract or parcel of land the location of a utility facility or sewer lateral.   "Emergency" means a sudden or unforeseen occurrence involving a clear and imminent danger to life, health, or property; the interruption of utility services; or repairs to transportation facilities that require immediate action.   "Emergency notice" means a communication to the utilities protection center to alert the involved facility owners or operators of the need to excavate due to an emergency that requires immediate excavation.   "Excavating" means any operation using mechanized equipment or explosives to move earth, rock, or other material below existing grade. This includes but is not limited to augering, blasting, boring, digging, ditching, dredging, drilling, driving-in, grading, plowing-in, ripping, scraping, trenching, and tunneling. "Excavating" shall not include pavement milling or pavement repair that does not exceed the depth of the existing pavement or 12 inches, whichever is less. The term shall not include routine road or railroad maintenance activities carried out by road maintenance or railroad employees or contractors, provided that such activities occur entirely within the right of way of a public road, street, railroad, or highway of the state; are carried out with reasonable care so as to protect any utility facilities and sewer laterals placed in the right of way by permit; are carried out within the limits of any original excavation on the traveled way, shoulders, or drainage ditches of a public road, street, railroad, or highway, and do not exceed 18 inches in depth below the grade existing prior to such activities; and, if involving the replacement of existing guard rails and sign posts, replace such guard rails and sign posts in their previous locations and at their previous depth. "Excavating" shall not include farming activities.   "Excavator" means any person engaged in excavating or blasting as defined in this Code section.   "Extraordinary circumstances" means circumstances other than normal operating conditions which exist and make it impractical or impossible for a facility owner or operator to comply with the provisions of this chapter. Such extraordinary circumstances may include, but shall not be limited to, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, ice and snow, and acts of God.   "Facility owner or operator" means any person or entity with the sole exception of a homeowner who owns, operates, or controls the operation of a utility facility.   "Farming activities" means the tilling of the fields related to agricultural activities but does not include other types of mechanized excavating on a farm.   "Horizontal directional drilling" or "HDD" means a type of trenchless excavation that uses guidable boring equipment to excavate in an essentially horizontal plane without disturbing or with minimal disturbance to the ground surface.   "Large project" means an excavation that involves more work to locate utility facilities than can reasonably be completed within the requirements of subsection (a) of Code Section 25-9-7.   "Local governing authority" means a county, municipality, or local authority created by or pursuant to general, local, or special Act of the General Assembly, or by the Constitution of the State of Georgia. The term also includes any local authority that is created or activated by an appropriate ordinance or resolution of the governing body of a county or municipality individually or jointly with other political subdivisions of this state.   "Locate request" means a communication between an excavator and the utilities protection center in which a request for designating utility facilities, sewer laterals, or both is processed.   "Locator" means a person who is acting on behalf of facility owners and operators in designating the location of the utility facilities and sewer laterals of such owners and operators.   "Mechanized excavating equipment" means all equipment which is powered by any motor, engine, or hydraulic or pneumatic device and which is used for excavating.   "Milling" means the process of grinding asphaltic concrete.   "Minimally intrusive excavation methods" means methods of excavation that minimize the potential for damage to utility facilities and sewer laterals. Examples include, but are not limited to, air entrainment/vacuum extraction systems and water jet/vacuum excavation systems operated by qualified personnel and careful hand tool usage and other methods as determined by the Public Service Commission. The term does not include the use of trenchless excavation.   "Permanent marker" means a visible indication of the approximate location of a utility facility or sewer lateral that can reasonably be expected to remain in position for the life of the facility. The term includes, but is not limited to, sewer cleanouts; water meter boxes; and etching, cutting, or attaching medallions or other industry accepted surface markers to curbing, pavement, or other similar visible fixed surfaces. All permanent markers other than sewer cleanouts, water meter boxes, or any other visible component of a utility facility that establish the exact location of the facility must be placed accurately in accordance with Code Section 25-9-9 and be located within the public right of way. Sewer cleanouts, water meter boxes, or any other visible component of a utility facility that establishes the exact location of the facility must be located within ten feet of the public right of way to be considered a permanent marker.   "Person" means an individual, firm, joint venture, partnership, association, local governing authority, state, or other governmental unit, authority, department, agency, or a corporation and shall include any trustee, receiver, assignee, employee, agent, or personal representative thereof.   "Positive response information system" or "PRIS" means the automated information system operated and maintained by the utilities protection center at its location that allows excavators, locators, facility owners or operators, and other affected parties to determine the status of a locate request or design locate request.   "Routine road maintenance" means work that is planned and performed on a routine basis to maintain and preserve the condition of the public road system and includes routine road surface scraping, mowing grass, animal removal, cleaning of inlets and culverts, trash removal, striping and striping removal, and cutting of trees; however, stump removal shall be considered excavation.   "Service area" means a contiguous area or territory which encompasses the distribution system or network of utility facilities by means of which a facility owner or operator provides utility service.   "Sewer lateral" means an individual customer service line which transports waste water from one or more building units to a utility owned sewer facility.   "Sewer system owner or operator" means the owner or operator of a sewer system. Sewer systems shall be considered to extend to the connection to the customer's facilities.   "Traffic control devices" means all roadway or railroad signs, sign structures, or signals and all associated infrastructure on which the public relies for informational, regulatory, or warning messages concerning the public or railroad rights of way.   "Traffic management system" means a network of traffic control devices, monitoring sensors, and personnel, with all associated communications and power services, including all system control and management centers.   "Tolerance zone" means the width of the utility facility or sewer lateral plus 18 inches on either side of the outside edge of the utility facility or sewer lateral on a horizontal plane.   "Trenchless excavation" means a method of excavation that uses boring equipment to excavate with minimal or no disturbance to the ground surface and includes horizontal directional drilling.   "Unlocatable facility" means an underground facility that cannot be marked with reasonable accuracy using generally accepted techniques or equipment commonly used to designate utility facilities and sewer laterals. This term includes, but is not limited to, nonconductive utility facilities and sewer laterals and nonmetallic underground facilities that have no trace wires or records that indicate a specific location.   "Utilities protection center" or "UPC" means the corporation or other organization formed by facility owners or operators to provide a joint notification service for the purpose of receiving advance notification from persons planning to blast or excavate and distributing such notifications to its affected facility owner or operator members.   "Utility facility" means an underground or submerged conductor, pipe, or structure used or installed for use in providing electric or communications service or in carrying, providing, or gathering gas, oil or oil products, sewage, waste water, storm drainage, or water or other liquids. All utility facilities shall be considered to extend up to the connection to the customer's facilities. The term does not include traffic control devices, traffic management systems, or sewer laterals.   "White lining" means marking the route of the excavation either electronically or with white paint, flags, stakes, or a combination of such methods to outline the dig site prior to notifying the UPC and before the locator arrives on the job.     (Ga. L. 1969, p. 50, § 2; Ga. L. 1970, p. 226, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1659, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 1577, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1069, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 805, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 515, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 177, § 1; Code 1981, §25-9-3, as redesignated by Ga. L. 2000, p. 780, § 1; Ga. L. 2005, p. 1142, § 2/SB 274; Ga. L. 2014, p. 652, § 1/SB 117.)    The 2014 amendment,  effective July 1, 2014, substituted "shall not" for "may not" in the last sentence of paragraph (8); rewrote paragraph (12); added present paragraph (16); redesignated former paragraphs (16) through (21) as present paragraphs (17) through (22), respectively; substituted "designating" for "locating" in present paragraph (20); added present paragraph (23); redesignated former paragraphs (22) through (25) as present paragraphs (24) through (27), respectively; added paragraph (28); redesignated former paragraphs (26) through (35) as present paragraphs (29) through (38), respectively; and added paragraph (39).   Code Commission notes.   - Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2005, paragraphs (33) and (34) were redesignated as paragraphs (34) and (35), respectively.   Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2005, paragraph (33), as enacted by Ga. L. 2003, p. 813, was redesignated as paragraph (34) and paragraph (34), as enacted by Ga. L. 2003, p. 813, was redesignated as paragraph (35).   Editor's notes.   - Former Code Section 25-9-3, concerning the requirement that utilities with gas pipes or underground facilities file information with superior court clerks, was repealed and reserved by Ga. L. 1990, p. 805, § 1, effective April 4, 1990, and was based on Ga. L. 1969, p. 50, § 3; Ga. L. 1975, p. 417, § 1; Ga. L. 1981, Ex. Sess., p. 8 (Code enactment Act); and Ga. L. 1986, p. 1069, § 1.   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   Violations.    - When an asphalt company admitted that the company had been "scraping" a site where a telephone cable was severed, and telephone company employees testified it appeared that there had been digging at the site where the cable was severed, the evidence was sufficient to support the Georgia Public Service Commission's conclusion that the company violated the Georgia Utility Facility Protection Act, O.C.G.A. § 25-9-1 et seq., by not contacting the utilities protection center to locate buried utilities before the company began work, because the company was engaged in "excavating," as defined by O.C.G.A. § 25-9-3. Douglas Asphalt Co. v. Ga. PSC, 263 Ga. App. 711, 589 S.E.2d 292 (2003).    Cited in Perry v. Georgia Power Co., 278 Ga. App. 759, 629 S.E.2d 588 (2006).   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL    Provisions of Ga. L. 1969, p. 50 (see now O.C.G.A. Title 25, Chapter 9) do not apply  to the State Highway Department (now Department of Transportation). 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-390.