Victor Espinoza knows a thing or two about winning. He’s won the Kentucky Derby three times and he’s the last Triple Crown champion since 1978. He also knows, as his silks state, that under Maryland law any person who plans to dig underground must call “Miss Utility” by dialing 811 at least 48 hours before digging for the free service of underground equipment locating and marking.
Why Call “Miss Utility”
There are three main reasons to call 811 before excavating:
- Safety.
- Property damage prevention.
- It’s the law.
“Miss Utility” is a shorthand expression for the 811 call system. The funds to run the system are paid by members who have an interest in their underground equipment remaining free from damage. The various stakeholders who pay for this service generally consist of utility companies and municipalities. When a person calls “Miss Utility,” the stakeholders receive notice of where and when a planned excavation is to take place. The stakeholders, either in-house or through a contractor, send out locators to determine if there are any underground facilities in the proposed dig zone. If there are, the locator marks the general horizontal plane that the utility takes, but depths of facilities are not shown.
The excavator receives a ticket, and within 48 hours of calling 811, will have notice on their ticket indicating whether there are marked facilities or if the area is clear. The marks let an excavator know there is some type of utility within 18 inches of that mark (the so-called “tolerance zone”). The excavator must then expose the utility by hand and take care not to damage it. If there are no marked facilities and the ticket states the area is clear, then the excavator is free to use mechanized digging unless the excavator notices obvious signs of underground equipment such as a pedestal sticking up out of the ground or a big green humming box that says “Baltimore Gas & Electric.” In cases where there is a discrepancy, the excavator again calls 811 and the process repeats itself.
Meaning of the Marks
We’ve probably all seen various colors of paint sprayed on the ground in an apparent random manner and sometimes accompanied with inscrutable symbols. Happily, the colors and the markings mean something. The most common are: yellow = gas, oil, steam pipe; red = electric cable; orange = communications cable; green = sewage; and blue = potable water. If you spend some time, you can trace the markings seen on the ground generally back to some “splice point” or access point such as a manhole, pedestal, or transformer. While some markings (yellow and red) alert of inherently more dangerous facilities than others, all marks are to be left undisturbed when hand digging or mechanized digging.
Safety
There are thousands of miles of pipes under our feet that carry everything from pressurized water, massive voltage, oil, gas, high air pressure, electrified communications cables, and even scalding hot steam. Much of the utility equipment placed in the ground many decades ago conveying these dangerous substances are still there many decades on. It doesn’t take much to crack a 100 year old water pipe or an old wooden communications cable conduit. There have been many injuries and deaths as a result of strikes to gas and electric lines. The Miss Utility law is there for everyone’s safety, so it is best to abide by the law.
Property Damage
It goes without saying that striking a utility’s phone line or a county’s fiber cable will damage it. Hitting underground utility equipment causes a nuisance to those around the strike, down time on a project, and interruption of services to those using the damaged facilities. Excavators must be aware that facility owners may repair the damaged facilities and then bill the excavator. Negligently striking underground utility equipment can easily cost tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. Thus, excavators would do well for the public and their purse strings to abide by the Miss Utility laws.
It’s The Law
The Underground Damage Prevention Act provisions discussed in this article may be found in the Public Utilities Article of the Maryland Code §§12-101 – 135. As if death, injury, and thousands of dollars in potential liability were not enough to encourage use of the free Miss Utility service, excavators may also face thousands of dollars in fines and be required to undergo training as assessed by the Maryland Underground Facilities Damage Prevention Authority when found in violation of the Miss Utility laws.
Conclusion
Whether you plan on placing a mailbox or mining a mountain, you must call 811. It is a free service and the 48 hours it takes to get the marks or the all-clear sign is nothing as compared to death of workers or members of the public, disruption of projects, and thousands in potential liability. If the world’s best jockey knows to call 811 before a dig, you should too.
Anderson & Quinn, LLC is a renowned law firm based in Rockville, Maryland, providing individuals, businesses, corporations, and healthcare institutions with the legal and litigation support they need.
