Whether it’s a cable, pipe, or wire, if you damage an underground utility line or its protective coating, stop digging and call the utility owner to report the damage. If you damage a tracer wire, but not the actual buried utility, you should still notify the utility. If the wire is not fixed, the line becomes unlocatable and is at risk for future damage. 

Allow the utility reasonable time to accomplish necessary repairs before continuing excavation in the immediate area of the damaged facility. 

If the damage results in the escape of flammable, toxic, or corrosive gas or liquid, move to a safe area upwind and uphill of the escaping product and call 911. After the call to 911, don’t forget to notify the utility operator and 811. 

State law also requires an excavator who damages a buried utility to submit a damage notice to 811. The damage notice to 811 is not an admission of fault or liability and it does not trigger enforcement action – it is for informational purposes only. 

Do not attempt to repair a damaged facility. 

Do not bury, hide, or perform any backfilling at the site of the incident. 

Tennessee’s Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act is enforced by a body known as the Underground Utility Damage Enforcement Board. Violations of the law are subject to civil penalties and the enforcement process is triggered by a complaint to the Tennessee Public Utility Commission. 

For more information, click here. 

In the case of an emergency excavation, maintenance or repairs may be made immediately, provided that the excavator notifies the one call center and the facility owner as soon as reasonably possible.   

"Emergency" means a sudden or unforeseen occurrence involving a clear and imminent danger to life, health, or property; the interruption of utility services requiring repair or restoration; or repairs to transportation facilities that require immediate action. Notice is required as soon as practicable, and utility operators must respond within two (2) hours unless the excavator provides an alternate response time that is more than two (2) hours and less than the seventy-two (72) hour notice of a normal locate request.

• Each excavator or company working on a project should have their own locate request. 

• Don’t use locate marks requested by another excavator or company – they may not cover the full extent of your work and you may not have markings from all applicable utilities. 

• Document your work area before you begin excavating. Take photos of locate marks, white lining, etc. 

• On extended projects, coordinate with facility owners and their locators. Planning a preconstruction meeting prior to beginning excavation may help. 

• Treat unknown lines that may be discovered as live lines and contact the utility when discovered. 

• Never assume the depth of a facility. 

• Use the color of the locate marks to determine what’s underground, not the color of the protective covering, conduit, or pipeline. 

• You can phone in your locate request by calling 811 or 1 (800) 351-1111. 

• You can submit a Homeowner ticket or E-ticket online. When you use one of these approaches, one of our Locate Request Agents will review your submission for accuracy before it is transmitted to the utilities. 

• You can submit your request through our Ticket Portal using Remote Ticket Entry (RTE).  RTE is a live system, so your ticket will be transmitted to utilities as soon as it is saved. To use RTE, you’ll need to complete training and submit signed disclaimers acknowledging that you are responsible for the information on the tickets you submit. 

State law requires each person responsible for excavation to have a locate request. In a legal sense, a person is any legal entity, like a business. Each company excavating on a project needs to have their own locate request, and that request will cover all employees of the company. This requirement is for both professional excavators and homeowners/private property owners. 

If a homeowner hires an excavator to work on their property, that excavator must have a ticket in their name. A ticket issued to the homeowner will not cover the excavator working on their property. 

Our Safe Digging Partners include a number of agencies and associations. Here are some links that you may find helpful: 

Common Ground Alliance -  https://commongroundalliance.com 

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration - https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/ 

Tennessee Association of Utility Districts - https://taud.org 

Tennessee Broadband Association - https://www.tennesseebroadband.com 

Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association - https://www.tnelectric.org 

Tennessee Gas Association - https://www.tngas.org 

Tennessee Municipal Electric Power Association - https://tmepa.org 

Tennessee Public Utility Commission - https://www.tn.gov/tpuc 

A normal locate request requires at least three (3) working days’ notice. That’s 72 hours excluding weekends and holidays. 

You can provide as much as ten (10) working days' notice when you know that your schedule is a little more flexible – we call this “postdating” a ticket. Because of the high volume of tickets each day, postdating your ticket and giving more than three days’ notice may mean that you can better rely on the start date of your ticket. 

Whether you give three days or ten working days’ notice, you’ll be able to keep up with the status of your locates through the Positive Response System. 

If your excavation will not be completed within fifteen (15) calendar days, contact 811 three (3) working days prior to the expiration of your ticket to request an update to ensure that your ticket does not expire during excavation.  Working on an expired ticket is against state law and may result in you being reported to the state and being responsible for repair costs if a damage occurs. 

Once you have completed digging, do not continue to update the ticket.  Relay the message to the person who requests tickets at your company so that they will not continue to update the ticket. 

Wait the required time for locates to be completed. Avoid digging prior to all facilities being marked as evidenced by markings at the site with confirmation in the Positive Response System. 

Always check Positive Response through our website or mobile app. Utilities are required to close out their tickets in Positive Response. If you don’t check Positive Response, you will not know if a utility cleared your worksite or didn’t get to the ticket. 

If after three working days all utilities have not responded through Positive Response or you observe evidence of unmarked utilities at your jobsite, you are required by law to make a second notice. Once you make your second notice, you can dig – using reasonable care to avoid damaging the lines that you know are there. 

Always verify information on your ticket to ensure that the ticket is valid. This includes the start date and time on your ticket and that your ticket is not more than 15 calendar days old, which would mean it is expired. Also check that the description on the ticket covers your dig area. 

Maintain the locate marks throughout the excavation. Place offset markings or stakes if locate marks will be removed during excavation. Keep paved areas clear of debris so that marks remain visible. 

Private utilities extend beyond the public utility network and are typically the responsibility of the property owner. Private utility lines may be found in an easement or right of way. They often end at a metering device, property boundary, or “point of service”. 

Some electric utilities do not install secondaries or services and therefore have no record drawings of them. They consider these lines to be private and the responsibility of the property owner. You should check with your local electric utility to confirm what they own and maintain. 

Some examples of private utilities are: 

• Power to detached garages, barns, pool heaters, and landscape lighting. 

• Lines to septic systems, water lines between the water meter and your home. 

• Sewer lines between the city or county sewer system and your home. 

• Propane lines from the tank to your home, grills and wells. 

• Irrigation systems. 

• Invisible fence systems. 

These types of lines will not be located after you call 811. If you need private utility lines located, you will need to contract with a private locating service. Click here for more information on private lines. 

TCA 65-31-108 (d) requires an additional (second) notice to 811 when you find clear evidence of unmarked utilities in your area of work. 

How do I know if I need to call in a second notice? 

• Check Positive Response through the ticket portal or the TN811 app. Look for any utilities that may have failed to respond, respond “locate delayed”, or otherwise didn’t close the ticket. 

• Walk the job site to look for visual indicators of unmarked or mismarked lines. 

A direct call to a utility or their locator doesn’t count as 2nd notice and does not meet an excavator’s requirements under the law. 

When you call in your second notice, a new ticket will be issued with a new start date and time, but no additional wait time is required because the excavator will be working off their first request, which is already valid before the second notice is called in. After the 2nd notice is made, the excavator can start work if they must, but It is always safest to wait for utilities to mark before you start digging. Use reasonable care to avoid damage to buried utilities – a second notice is not a green light to dig through unmarked or mismarked lines. 

Examples of reasonable care include potholing, hand digging, handheld pneumatic tools, vacuum excavation, hydro excavation, and other means approved by the facility owner. 

Tennessee state law establishes a a tolerance or safety zone that is the width of the buried facility plus 2-feet/24-inches on each side. The tolerance zone is often based on the surface marking provided by utility locators, but utility locating is not an exact science, so the best way to pinpoint of a buried line is to carefully expose it. 

Utilities are not required to provide depth information with their utility markings, and the depth of a utility line can vary over time, even if an as-built drawing reflects depth of cover at the time of installation. 

Tennessee state law requires excavators to exercise reasonable care when working inside the tolerance or safety zone.  This includes, but is not limited to, digging by hand, potholing, hand held pneumatic tools, vacuum or hydro excavating and any other soft digging practices approved by the facility owner. 

Utility warning markers indicate the approximate location of an underground utility, not its exact location.  These markers are an above ground visual of a utility that is buried below the surface.  They are there to remind you that a buried facility is present and to contact 811 for locates. 

Pipeline warning markers will give you the name of the operator, the product being transported and a 24-hour emergency number. They are placed along the route of the pipeline and wherever it crosses a right of way, street, railroad, or body of water. 

Warning markers come in different sizes, shapes, and colors.  You will need to read the marker to know what underground facility is in the area.  Warning markers are placed in line of sight. 

Tennessee state law defines excavation as the movement, placement or removal of earth, rock, or other materials in or on the ground by use of mechanized equipment or by discharge of explosives. 

Whether you are using hand tools or mechanized equipment, we suggest that you contact 811 anytime you dig just to be safe. Even if you aren’t required by law to have a locate ticket, you can be charged for repairs if you damage an underground utility line. Avoid costly repair bills, loss of service charges, or even bodily harm by notifying 811 before you dig.