Terms Used In Michigan Laws 460.725

  • Additional assistance: means a response by a facility owner or facility operator to a request made by an excavator during business hours, for help in locating a facility. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Approximate location: means a strip of land at least 36 inches wide, but not wider than the width of the marked facility plus 18 inches on either side of the facility marks. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Blasting: means changing the level or grade of land or rendering, tearing, demolishing, moving, or removing earth, rock, buildings, structures, or other masses or materials by seismic blasting or the detonation of dynamite or any other explosive agent. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Business day: means Monday through Friday, excluding holidays observed by the notification system and posted on the notification system website. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Business hours: means from 7 a. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Caution zone: means the area within 48 inches of either side of the facility marks provided by a facility owner or facility operator. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Dig notice: means a communication to the notification system by an excavator providing notice of intended excavation or blasting activity as required by this act. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Emergency: means a sudden or unforeseen occurrence, including a government-declared emergency, involving a clear and imminent danger to life, health, or property, or imminent danger to the environment, that requires immediate correction in order to restore or to prevent the interruption of essential governmental services, utility services, or the blockage of public transportation and that requires immediate excavation or blasting. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Emergency notice: means a communication to the notification system to alert the facility owners or facility operators of the urgent need for marking the location of a facility due to an emergency. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Excavation: means moving, removing, or otherwise displacing earth, rock, or other material below existing surface grade with power tools or power equipment, including, but not limited to, grading, trenching, tiling, digging, drilling, boring, augering, tunneling, scraping, cable or pipe plowing, and pile driving; and wrecking, razing, rending, moving, or removing a structure or mass of materials. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Excavator: means any person performing excavation or blasting. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Facility operator: means a person that controls the operation of a facility. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Facility owner: means a person that owns a facility. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • marking: means the temporary identification on the surface grade of the location of a facility in response to a ticket as described in section 7. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Notification system: means MISS DIG System, Inc. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Positive response: means the procedure administered by the notification system to allow excavators to determine whether all facility owners or facility operators contacted under a ticket have responded in accordance with this act. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Safe zone: means an area 48 inches or more from either side of the facility marks provided by a facility owner or facility operator. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Soft excavation: means a method and technique designed to prevent contact damage to underground facilities, including, but not limited to, hand-digging, cautious digging with nonmechanical tools, vacuum excavation methods, or use of pneumatic hand tools. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Start date: means the date that a proposed excavation or blasting is expected to begin as indicated on a ticket. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • Ticket: means a communication from the notification system to a facility owner or facility operator requesting the marking of underground facilities, based on information provided by an excavator in a dig notice. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  • White lining: means marking by an excavator of the area of a proposed excavation or blasting, with white paint or flags, or both, before giving notice to the notification system. See Michigan Laws 460.723
  (1) An excavator shall provide a dig notice to the notification system at least 72 hours, but not more than 14 calendar days, before the start of any blasting or excavation. If the dig notice is given during business hours, the 72-hour period shall be measured from the time the dig notice is made to the notification system. If a dig notice is given before 7 a.m. on a business day, the 72-hour period begins at 7 a.m. on that day. If a dig notice is given on a nonbusiness day or after 5 p.m. on a business day, the 72-hour period begins at 7 a.m. on the next business day. All hours of nonbusiness days are excluded in counting the 72-hour period. If there are multiple excavators on the same site, each excavator shall provide its own dig notice.
  (2) A dig notice shall contain at least all of the following:
  (a) The name, address, and telephone number of the excavator.
  (b) A description of the proposed area of blasting or excavation, including the street address and a property description.
  (c) The specific type of work to be performed.
  (d) The start date and time of blasting or excavation.
  (e) Whether the proposed blasting or excavation will be completed within 21 days after the start date.
  (3) A ticket is valid for 21 days from the start date of the excavation or blasting on the ticket as identified by the excavator, except that a ticket is valid for 180 days from the start date if the dig notice indicates that the proposed excavation or blasting will not be completed within 21 days from the start date.
  (4) An excavator shall comply with the notification system procedures and all requirements of this act.
  (5) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, before blasting or excavating in a caution zone, an excavator shall expose all marked facilities in the caution zone by soft excavation. If conditions make complete exposure of the facility impractical, an excavator shall consult with the facility owner or facility operator to reach agreement on how to protect the facility. For excavations in a caution zone parallel to a facility, an excavator shall use soft excavation at intervals as often as reasonably necessary to establish the precise location of the facility. An excavator may use power tools and power equipment in a caution zone only after the facilities are exposed or the precise location of the facilities is established.
  (6) An excavator shall provide support or bracing of facilities or excavation walls in an excavation or blasting area that are reasonably necessary for protection of the facilities.
  (7) An excavator shall provide notification to the notification system if facility markings are destroyed or covered by excavation or blasting activities or if a ticket expires before the commencement of excavation. If a ticket expires before the commencement of excavation, an excavator shall provide a new dig notice to the notification system, and comply with subsection (1).
  (8) An excavator shall provide notification to the notification system requesting additional assistance if the location of a marked facility within the approximate location cannot be determined.
  (9) An excavator shall provide immediate additional notice to the notification system and stop excavation in the immediate vicinity if the excavator has reason to suspect the presence of an unmarked facility due to any 1 of the following:
  (a) Visible evidence of a facility with no marks visible.
  (b) Lack of a positive response to a ticket.
  (c) A positive response from a facility owner or facility operator indicating the presence of a facility with no marks visible.
  (10) If an excavator contacts or damages a facility, the excavator shall provide immediate notice to the facility owner or facility operator.
  (11) If an excavator damages a facility resulting in the escape of any flammable, toxic, or corrosive gas or liquid, or endangering life, health, or property, the excavator shall call 9-1-1 and provide immediate notice to the facility owner or facility operator. The excavator shall also take reasonable measures to protect the excavator, those in immediate danger, the general public, and the environment until the facility owner or facility operator, or emergency first responders, have arrived and taken control of the site.
  (12) An excavator shall provide prompt emergency notice to the notification system for any proposed excavation or blasting in an emergency. In an emergency, blasting or excavation required to address the conditions of the emergency may be performed as the emergency conditions reasonably require, subject to the provisions in this act for emergency notice and marking facilities in response to an emergency notice.
  (13) If the location of a proposed excavation or blasting cannot be described in a manner sufficient to enable the facility owner or facility operator to ascertain the precise tract or parcel involved, an excavator shall provide white lining in advance of submitting a ticket or additional assistance to the facility owner or facility operator on reasonable request to identify the area of the proposed excavation or blasting.
  (14) For purposes of this section, notice to the notification system constitutes notice to all facility owners or facility operators regarding facilities located in the area of the proposed excavation or blasting.
  (15) Except as otherwise provided in this act, an excavator may conduct excavation in a safe zone using power equipment without establishing the precise location of any facilities.

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