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CHAPTER 144, PORTIONS of RCW 19.122

TERMS

"Business Day" means any day other than Saturday, Sunday, or a legal, local, state or federal holiday.

"Emergency" means any condition constituting a clear and present danger to life or property, or a customer service outage.

"Excavator" means any person who engages directly in excavation.

"Operator" means the individual conducting the excavation.

"Marking" means the use of stakes, paint or other clearly identifiable materials to show the field location of underground facilities, in accordance with the current color code standard of the American Public Works Association. Markings shall include identification letters indicating the specific type of the underground facility.

"Reasonable Accuracy" means location within twenty-four inches of the outside dimensions of both sides of
an underground facility.

"Misdemeanor" Any excavator who excavates, without a valid excavation confirmation code when required under this chapter, within thirty-five feet of a transmission pipeline is guilty of a misdemeanor.


19.122.030 Notice of Excavation. (1) Before commencing any excavation, excluding agriculture tilling less than twelve inches in depth, the excavator shall provide notice of the scheduled commencement of excavation to all owners of underground facilities through a one-number locator service.

(2) All owners of underground facilities within a one-number locator service area shall subscribe to the service. One-number locator service rates for cable television companies will be based on the amount of their underground facilities. If no one-number locator service is available, notice shall be provided individually to those owners of underground facilities known to or suspected of having underground facilities within the area of proposed excavation. The notice shall be communicated to the owners of underground facilities not less than two business days or more than ten business days before the scheduled date for commencement of excavation, unless otherwise agreed by the parties.

(3) Upon receipt of the notice provided for in this section, the owner of the underground facility shall provide the excavator with reasonably accurate information as to its locatable underground facilities by surface-marking the location of the facilities. If there are identified but unlocatable underground facilities, the owner of such facilities shall provide the excavator with the best available information as to their locations. The owner of the underground facility providing the information shall respond no later than two business days after the receipt of the notice or before the excavation time, at the option of the owner, unless otherwise agreed by the parties. Excavators shall not excavate until all known facilities have been marked. Once marked by the owner of the underground facility, the excavator is responsible for maintaining the markings. Excavators shall have the right to receive compensation from the owner of the underground facility for costs incurred if the owner of the underground facility does not locate its facilities in accordance with this section.

(4) The owner of the underground facility shall have the right to receive compensation for costs incurred in responding to excavation notices given less than two business days prior to the excavation from the excavator.

(5) An owner of underground facilities is not required to indicate the presence of existing service laterals or appurtenances if the presence of existing service laterals or appurtenances on the site of the construction project can be determined from the presence of other visible facilities, such as buildings, manholes, or meter and junction boxes on or adjacent to the construction site.

(6) Emergency excavations are exempt from the time requirements for notification provided in this section.

(7) If the excavator, while performing the contract, discovers underground facilities which are not identified, the excavator shall cease excavating in the vicinity of the facility and immediately notify the owner or operator of such facilities, or the one-number locator service. 

19.122.050 Damage Notification and Repairs. (1) An excavator who, in the course of excavation, contacts or damages an underground facility shall notify the utility owning or operating such facility and the one-number locator service. If the damage causes an emergency condition, the excavator causing the damage shall also alert the appropriate local public safety agencies and take all appropriate steps to ensure the public safety. No damaged underground facility may be buried until it is repaired or relocated.

(2) The owner of the underground facilities damaged shall arrange for repairs or relocation as soon as is practical or may permit the excavator to do necessary repairs or relocation at a mutually acceptable price.

12.122.070 Civil penalties - Treble damages - Existing remedies not affected. (1) Any person who violates any provision of this chapter not amounting to a violation of RCW 19.122.055, and which violation results in damage to underground facilities, is subject to a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars for each violation. All penalties recovered in such actions shall be deposited in the general fund.

(2) Any excavator who willfully or maliciously damages a field-marked underground facility shall be liable for treble the costs incurred in repairing or relocating the facility. In those cases in which an excavator fails to notify known underground facility owners or the one-number locator service, any damage to the underground facility shall be deemed willful and malicious and shall be subject to treble damages for costs incurred in repairing or relocating the facility.

(3) This chapter does not affect any civil remedies for personal injury or for property damage, including that to underground facilities, nor does this chapter create any new civil remedies for such damage.



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