Tolerance Zone

The flags and paint used to mark buried facilities show the approximate location of the physical facility. They have a tolerance zone that runs 24 inches from the facility’s outside edges.

When digging in the tolerance zone, excavators are required to use increased caution to protect and identify underground facilities. The protection requires hand digging, pot holing, soft digging, vacuum excavation methods, or other similar procedures. Any use of mechanized equipment within the tolerance zone must be supervised by the excavator.

Other Safe Digging Tips

• When exposing a facility while digging, provide adequate support and protection for it. Plus, provide adequate backfill upon completion.

• If you haven’t confirmed the member responses before you dig and encounter an unmarked underground facility, stop and do some investigating. By checking the positive responses in Exactix, you will see if the member representative wants to be present or has some more information for you before you should begin digging. If that’s not the case, treat all unmarked lines as live.

Contacting or Damaging a Buried Facility

When digging near buried facilities, there is always a risk of contacting or damaging a buried facility, finding an unknown or unmarked facility, or locating a facility in danger of failing. 

If you contact or damage a buried facility, you must:

• Immediately notify the facility owner of the contact or damage, even if you can’t see any damage.

• Stop all excavation in the immediate area that could cause further harm to the facility until the operator advises you otherwise.

If you contact or damage a buried facility, you must not:

• Ignore it.

• Attempt to repair it.

• Bury, hide or perform any backfilling in the immediate area.

If the contact or damage causes an emergency involving danger to life, health, or property, you must immediately:

• Evacuate your employees and all other endangered persons from the immediate vicinity to the best of your ability.

• Call 911 and provide:

  • Exact location of the emergency.

  • Nature of the emergency.

  • Type of underground facility affected.