Julylive! Open Mic with Miss Dig 811 Notes

JULYLIVE! OPEN MIC WITH MISS DIG 811 NOTES

The topic of discussion for JULY wasHow do I know when it is safe to dig? What should I do when it’s not?

• Once the Begin Date has arrived, which is the date the excavator has indicated on the ticket that work is to begin, the excavator must check positive response to ensure that the ticket has been appropriately responded to by all facility owner/operators. If yellow responses were posted, an excavator should be in contact with the facility owner/operator prior to excavating. If red responses were posted the ticket should be sent back to the utilities (retransmitted) by calling the Notification Center at 811 or using a Full Access RTE account.
• Repeated attempts may be necessary. Once you get to the third attempt the utility company contact info can be provided to you. The ticket is also given to a manager to escalate the responses.
• When an excavator gets to a job site, the markings they see should correspond with the responses they see on positive response. If they don’t the ticket needs to be retransmitted, either by calling the Notification Center at 811, or using a Full Access RTE account.
• Documentation is recorded when you retransmit a ticket. You can also attach documents or pictures to your ticket. To do this you must be an RTE or Design Ticket user and use the Ticket Search that you have access to with your account.

• There is a difference when requesting an Emergency ticket and a Short Notice ticket. An EMERGENCY as defined by Public Act 174 of 2013 “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.” In an Emergency, a begin date can legally be chosen any time before the three-working day notice. A short notice is when a ticket is requested to be done before the legal three-working day notice because of circumstances experienced by the excavator that do not qualify as an emergency. It is not safe to dig on a short notice because the utilities are not required to mark the dig site until the three-working day notice is passed.
• On a Joint Meet ticket, the locator is expected to mark the utilities when they are on site for the meet. You cannot request a short notice Joint Meet.