Underground Facility Damage Prevention Act

The Underground Facility Damage Prevention Act governs excavation and demolition work conducted near buried utility lines and other underground facilities, with the goal of preventing damage to those facilities and the injuries that damage can cause. It requires excavators to give advance notice of planned work through a central notification center maintained by an association of facility operators, and requires operators in turn to supply information about their facilities and to locate, mark, or protect them within a reasonable time, with separate procedures for design-stage requests and for unusually large projects. The act also exempts certain work — including emergency excavation — from the notice requirement, allocates compliance costs and liability for damage or injury between excavators and operators, preempts conflicting local ordinances, and provides for damage reporting, operator training programs, mediation, civil actions, and penalties.

Editorial summary generated from the text of this act. It is not part of the statute — read the sections below for the operative language.