Any operation in which earth, rock, or other material in the ground is moved or otherwise displaced by any means including, but not limited to, explosives
Any person who engages directly in excavation
Any day other than Saturday, Sunday, or a legal, local, state, or federal holiday
The area on, below, or above a public roadway, highway, street, lane, path, sidewalk, alley, or other right-of way dedicated for compatible uses
Any excavation involving non-mechanized tools or equipment that, when used properly, will not damage underground facilities. Hand digging includes, but is not limited to, hand shovel digging, manual posthole digging, vacuum excavation, and soft digging
Any impact or exposure that results in the substantial weakening of structural or lateral support of an underground facility, or the penetration, impairment, or destruction of any underground protective coating, housing, or other protective devise, or the partial or complete destruction of the facility, or the severance, partial or complete, of any underground facility to the extent that the project owner or the affected underground facility owner determines that repairs are required
Stop digging immediately. Notify the member utility company (owner) directly and Digline
Any sudden or unforeseen condition that required immediate action to prevent or resolve:
(a) A clear and present danger to life, health, or property; or
(b) An unplanned customer service outage; or
(c) The blockage of roads or transportation facilities
Any underground facility located in a public right-of-way or facility easement that is used to convey water (unless being delivered primarily for irrigation), stormwater, or sewage and connects an end user’s property to an underground facility owner’s main utility line. The underground facility owner who provides service via a service lateral shall be responsible to locate the service lateral
The use of stakes, paint, or other clearly identifiable materials to show the location of the underground facilities
The underground facility owners that are a member of Digline only locate their public facilities – which means they will mark to the utility meter. If a power or gas line has been extended to an outbuilding or other facility, these lines are considered private and will not be located by a public utility
By contacting Digline, we can provide training – both online and in-person – on specific items pertaining to Damage Prevention. The Department of Professional Licenses also provides opportunities for training. There are many local Utility Coordinating Councils around Idaho that hold monthly or quarterly meetings. This is an opportunity to network with other stakeholders. Most of these UCC’s host contractor events throughout the year
Pre-marking the path of excavation with white paint is required unless the underground facility owner or locator can determine the locate of the proposed excavation by street address or lot and block or the excavator and underground facility owner has had a prior meeting for the exchange of information
Contact Digline to update your locate request and refresh marks. You can also inquire about training to submit updates via your online Exactix account. Please remember that it is the responsibility of the excavator to maintain the marks for the life of the ticket (28 days)
Before commencing excavation, the excavator shall provide notice of excavation to all underground facility owners through Digline. Idaho Statute specifically states the excavator shall provide notice
A tolerance or buffer zone extends 24 inches from each side of the utility line markings. If you must dig within this zone, use hand tools and exercise extreme caution
The requester shall not begin excavation until all known facilities have been marked. The underground facility owner or the owner’s agent (locating company) shall respond no later than two (2) business days after the receipt of the locate request.
If you have a login set up for Diglines’ website, you can do a ticket search to review responses from many of the member utilities listed on your locate request. Not all utilities participate, but many do. You can also contact 811 to process a 2nd Request that will specifically notify the utilities you are missing marks from. Keep in mind that some utilities could be overhead or might be privately owned lines
Each excavator is responsible for working off of their own locate request. Digline is able to copy a ticket and the locate specifics but each excavator needs to have a ticket under their own company name
Positive response is any means of communication used by the utility owner or their contracted locating service to indicate that any facilities in the vicinity of the area of excavation have been marked or deemed clear. This includes but is not limited to physical paint marks or flags on site, direct contact via email or phone, or electronic positive response provided to the 811 notification center
Electronic positive response is when the utility owner or their contracted locating service provides confirmation of the status of a locate request directly to the notification center. You can view your tickets electronic positive responses by registering an account online via exactix.digline.com. You can also use the “anonymous” search available at the login page if you have access to the ticket number and phone number the locate was submitted under
Locate requests are valid for four (4) weeks following the date of notification as long as it is reasonable apparent that site conditions have not changed
If you are interested in updating your own tickets online rather than by calling our office, send an email to webmaps@digline.com to schedule a short training session. After the training, you will be given access to update your own tickets
Contact Digline Administration to have an employee set as inactive via the Contact Us form
All excavation requests require a minimum of two business days’ notice prior to the start of excavation. State law identifies which factors qualify a request as an emergency, and if your excavation does not meet those requirements you cannot submit an emergency request. To see if your excavation meets the requirements of an emergency notification, please see the specific emergency definitions below:
Any sudden or unforeseen condition that requires immediate action to prevent or resolve:
a) A clear and present danger to life, health, or property
b) An unplanned customer service outage
c) The blockage of roads or transportation facilities
Anytime you are excavating (moving the earth), you need to call 811 for a locate request. It is better to be safe than taking a risk. Please keep in mind, this is a free service – paid for by your local public utilities
