“Act” means the Illinois Underground Utility Facilities Damage Prevention Act [220 ILCS 50].

“Approximate location” means the same as in Section 2.8 of the Act [220 ILCS 50/2.8].

“Clear evidence” includes, but is not limited to, the visual evidence of an unmarked utility facility, such as the presence of an overhead-underground transition or downfeed, knowledge of the presence of a utility facility, or faded marks from previous marking of a utility facility.

"Commission" means the Illinois Commerce Commission.

“Damage” means the same as in Section 2.5 of the Act [220 ILCS 50/2.5]. 

 “Demolition” means the same as in Section 2.4 of the Act [220 ILCS 50/2.4].

“Emergency” means any condition constituting an imminent danger to life, health, property, or a utility service outage that requires immediate repair or action. An emergency also includes the reinstallation of traffic control devices.

“Excavation” means the same as in Section 2.3 of the Act [220 ILCS 50/2.3].

“Excavator” means any person who performs excavation.

“Hand digging” means the use of hand-operated tools such as shovels, spades, picks, bars, etc., or automatically-powered hand devices designed to be held in the hand of the operator when in use.

“Immediate safety hazard” means any condition constituting an imminent danger to life or health.

“Interfere” means the performance of excavation or demolition activities at a location or in a manner that may result in damage to underground utility facilities.

“Notice area” means the locations where excavation or demolition activities are to occur.

“Operator” means any person who owns, furnishes or transports materials or services by means of a utility facility.

“Person” means the same as in Section 2.1 of the Act [220 ILCS 50/2.1]. 

"Support" means the installation of shoring, braces, props, or other equipment or material to prevent the displacement of existing underground facilities both during and after the construction or excavation activities of the person doing the work. 

"Tolerance Zone" means the approximate location of underground utility facilities defined as a strip of land at least 3 feet wide, but not wider than the width of the underground facility plus 1-1/2 feet on either side of such facility based upon the markings made by the owner or operator of the facility. 

“Underground utility facilities” or "facilities"  means the same as in Section 2.2 of the Act [220 ILCS 50/2.2].

a)         Every underground utility facilities operator shall maintain records showing the location of all of its underground utility facilities, installed after January 16, 1962, except relatively minor facilities that connect a particular premises or building to a facility serving more than one premises or building.

b)         Every underground utility facilities operator shall be able to locate all of its underground utility facilities installed after January 16, 1962:

1)         by maintaining accurate records showing the location of its underground utility facilities, or

2)         by maintaining equipment that can locate its underground utility facilities in the field.

a)         Provide notice not more than 14 days nor less than 48 hours (exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays and holidays) in advance of the start of any excavation or demolition to the State-Wide One-Call Notice System to request that any underground facilities in the notice area be marked in accordance with the Act;

b)         Before commencing excavation or demolition, each person shall take reasonable action to identify the location of under­ground utility facilities in and near the construction area. Reasonable actions include the performance of a site inspection prior to excavation to verify the person is at the correct location of excavation or demolition activities and to check for any indication of unmarked utility facilities. If clear evidence of unmarked utility facilities exists, each person shall comply with the requirements of Section 11(i) of the Act [220 ILCS 50/11(i)];

c)         Identify on appropriate construction plans, with such warnings as may be reasonable, the existence of underground utility facilities determined to be in and near the construction area;

d)         Plan the excavation or demolition to avoid or minimize the possibility of damage to underground utility facilities within the tolerance zone by utilizing precautions that include, but are not limited to, hand excavation, vacuum excavation, and visually inspecting the excavation while in progress until clear of the existing marked facilities;

e)         Provide support for existing underground utility facilities in and near the construction area as may be reasonably necessary for the protection of those facilities, unless otherwise agreed to by the owner or operator of the underground utility facility; and

Every person in connection with emergency excavation or demolition, or when any other emergency operation might interfere with existing underground facilities, shall:

a)         Notify, through the State-Wide One-Call Notice System, as promptly as possible the underground utility facilities operators known to have under­ground utility facilities in and near the excavation or demolition area;

b)         Unless an immediate safety hazard exists, wait two hours after providing notice to the State-Wide One-Call Notice System before beginning excavation or demolition;

c)         If an immediate safety hazard exists such that a two-hour wait is not possible:

1)         Assume the responsibility for demonstrating that site conditions warranted the earlier start time;

2)         Conduct a thorough site assessment to determine the location of underground utility facilities;

3)         Locate the underground utility facilities with acceptable equipment, if possible;

4)         Use hand or vacuum excavation around any known or suspected underground utility facilities;

5)         Immediately and directly notify the utility line operators, if necessary;

The utilities, in a joint endeavor, shall continue the operation and maintenance of the previously established State-Wide One-Call Notice System (System) for the exchanging of information between excavators and utilities so that the utilities will know where and when excavation is to take place and the excavators will know where the underground facilities are located, all in accordance with the following criteria:

a)         The System shall continue to be designed, organized, financed, operated, maintained and controlled by the underground utility facility owners and others subject to the jurisdiction of this Part as a joint endeavor;

b)         The System shall provide for a minimum notice period not to exceed 48 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays) in order to assure that the marking of the location of underground utility facilities will occur prior to excavation;

c)         The System shall provide a readily accessible, free of charge, One-Call Notice System whereby any person desiring to excavate shall give notice to owners of all underground utility facilities located in the area of the proposed excavation;

d)         The System shall provide procedures for verifying that notice was received from the exca­vator and acknowledged by any owners of the underground utility facilities located in the area of excavation;

e)         The System shall provide publicity of the One-Call Notice System to assure substantially all excavators are informed of the notice procedure;

f)          The System shall provide for participation by utilities not subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission;

g)         The System shall provide for participation by small utilities at an economically feasible unit cost per call;

h)         The System shall provide for “notice areas” no larger than one section of land 

i)          The system shall provide: 

            1.  for the gathering of information from excavators as to :

            A)  the location and description of the excavation;
B)  the date and time the excavation is to begin;
C)  the name of the person or company doing the     excavation; and
D)  the name and phone numbers of persons to be contacted about the excavation;

             2.  for distribution of the information to utilities with underground facilities in the area of the excavation. 

j)          The System shall provide an informational system to indicate to excavators that no under­ground facilities exist in the area of excavation, if marking of the location of underground utilities does not exist on the site at the expiration of the notice period;

k)         The System shall require that information needed to operate the system within each utility's domain be identified and provided by the utilities to the notice system operator;

l)          The System shall provide for the financing and sharing of cost of construction, operation and maintenance of the system among the utilities;

a)   Any person may report to the Commission a suspected violation of the Act. A report may be made whether or not the suspected violation resulted in any personal injury or property damage.

b)  Except for suspected violations that occur within the boundaries of a municipality of at least one million persons that operates its own underground facility notice system, facilities operators shall report suspected violations of the Act in the following circumstances:

        1)  An underground natural gas utility facilities operator   shall report suspected violations when any gas main is damaged causing a gas leak;

     2) An underground telecommunications utility facilities operator shall report suspected violations if the damage causes an outage to a provider of an emergency telephone system (i.e., a 9-1-1 system);

       3)  An underground utility facilities operator shall report a suspected violation if the occurrence results in a fatality or in personal injuries requiring hospitalization.

c)   Except for allegations of a violation of Section 11(h) of the Act [220 ILCS 50/11(h)], the Commission Staff will not investigate, and the Commission will not formally proceed with respect to, any alleged violation of Section 11 involving an excavation within the boundaries of a municipality of at least one million persons that operates its own underground facility notice system.