Check how many of our utilities members we notified by looking at the bottom of your ticket. Each listed utility member will be responding to your Dig Ticket. Please note, responses can range from marks on the ground, email communications or a phone call.
The various utilities listed on your ticket will follow a national color code that identifies the type of utility they represent. For example, Blue marks = Water, Red = Electric, etc.
Our utility members are going to mark anything that they own and operate within your pre-marked project area. It is important to remember that the utilities won’t mark private lines (such as sprinkler or irrigation lines, natural gas lines for a BBQ island, electricity powering a shed, etc.). If you are interested in hiring a private locator, please check our Safe Digging Partners.
Our utility members have time to respond to your request up until the two working day legal minimum or the start date and time that you specified on your dig ticket (whichever comes later). The start date and time can be found at the top of your ticket under the field “Work Start.” It is important that you do not begin your digging until the following has occurred: The two working day minimum or start date and time has passed (whichever is later), and all Utility Members on your ticket have responded with a positive response (marks on the ground, email, or phone communication).
Although the two working day minimum and start date and time have both passed, if you are missing a response from a utility member you cannot start your dig. Give us a call by dialing 811 and we will issue a notice to that utility to respond ASAP.
Use hand tools when digging within 24” on either side of the marks. Depending on how large the facility is, this “hand dig only” area will grow based on the size of the buried facility and is commonly referred to as the Tolerance Zone. Please see the illustration below.
If at any time the markings on the ground are no longer reasonably visible, you must stop your digging and call 811 to request for remarks. If the markings are no longer visible only in one portion of your job, make additional white delineations (white paint, flags, stakes, flour) for the area to be remarked and specify that area on your remark request.
Your dig ticket has a lifespan of 28 calendar days. If your work is going to go past 28 calendar days, you must submit a renewal to extend the life of that ticket for an additional 28 calendar days. This must be done prior to the expiration date of the dig ticket. The expiration date and time can be found at the top of your dig ticket.
If you hit a buried line during your dig, it’s your responsibility to notify the Utility Member(s) affected so that they can check the integrity of that facility. Please refer to your dig ticket for the contact information and a list of the utility members that were notified of your project. If at any time you can’t find their contact information, please call 811. Even a “small” scrape, nick, or dent to a buried utility can weaken the integrity of a line and become a corrosion point down the road.
911 Emergency Services shall be called upon discovering or causing damage to either of the following: (A) A natural gas or hazardous liquid pipeline subsurface installation in which the damage results in the escape of any flammable, toxic, or corrosive gas or liquid. (B) A high priority subsurface installation of any kind.