                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS; CALCULATION OF TIME PERIODS (§ 56-265.15)

A. As used in this chapter:
			&#8220;Abandoned&#8221; means no longer in service and physically
disconnected from a portion of the underground utility line that is in use for
storage or conveyance of service.			&#8220;Contract locator&#8221; means any
person contracted by an operator specifically to determine the approximate
horizontal location of the operator&#8217;s utility lines that may exist within
the area specified by a locate request.			&#8220;Damage&#8221; means any impact
upon or removal of support from an underground facility as a result of
excavation or demolition which according to the operating practices of the
operator would necessitate the repair of such facility.			&#8220;Demolish&#8221;
or &#8220;demolition&#8221; means any operation by which a structure or mass of
material is wrecked, razed, rendered, moved, or removed by means of any tools,
equipment, or discharge of explosives which could damage underground utility
lines.			&#8220;Designer&#8221; means any licensed professional designated by
the project owner who designs government projects, commercial projects,
residential projects consisting of 25 or more units, or industrial projects,
which projects require the approval of governmental or regulatory authorities
having jurisdiction over the project area.			&#8220;Emergency&#8221; means a
sudden or unexpected occurrence involving a clear and imminent danger, demanding
immediate action to prevent or mitigate loss of, or damage to, life, health,
property, or essential public services.			&#8220;Excavate&#8221; or
&#8220;excavation&#8221; means any operation in which earth, rock, or other
material in the ground is moved, removed, or otherwise displaced by means of any
tools, equipment, or explosives and includes, without limitation, grading,
trenching, digging, ditching, dredging, drilling, augering, tunneling, scraping,
cable or pipe plowing and driving, wrecking, razing, rendering, moving, or
removing any structure or mass of material. &#8220;Excavate&#8221; or
&#8220;excavation&#8221; does not include installation of a sign that consists
of metal, plastic, or wooden poles placed in the ground by hand or by foot
without the use of tools or equipment.			&#8220;Exigent circumstances&#8221;
means circumstances outside of an operator&#8217;s or contract locator&#8217;s,
as described in subsection D of &#xA7; 56-265.19, control that necessarily
prevent an operator or locator from completing the marking task, including a
wrong address provided with the locate request; failure to provide a reasonably
specific location of proposed excavation; inaccessibility of the excavation site
due to physical barrier or risk of serious bodily injury; a locate request that
cannot be carried out by a traditional locating method and requires assistance
from the operator; catastrophic technological failure outside of the
locator&#8217;s, operator&#8217;s, or notification center&#8217;s control; or
the area of excavation does not conform with the requirements of subsection F of
&#xA7; 56-265.17.			&#8220;Extraordinary circumstances&#8221; means floods,
snow, ice storms, tornadoes, earthquakes, or other natural
disasters.			&#8220;Hand digging&#8221; means any excavation involving
nonmechanized tools or equipment. Hand digging includes, but is not limited to,
digging with shovels, picks, and manual post hole diggers, vacuum excavation or
soft digging.			&#8220;Locate request&#8221; means the completed delivery of
information to the notification center requesting markings for a specified area
of excavation or demolition and receipt of the same by the notification center
in accordance with this chapter.			&#8220;Notification center&#8221; means an
organization whose membership is open to all operators of underground facilities
located within the notification center&#8217;s designated service area, which
maintains a data base, provided by its member operators, that includes the
geographic areas in which its member operators desire transmissions of notices
of proposed excavation, and which has the capability to transmit, within one
hour of receipt, notices of proposed excavation to member operators by
electronic means.			&#8220;Notify,&#8221; &#8220;notice&#8221; or
&#8220;notification&#8221; means the completed delivery of information to the
person to be notified, and the receipt of same by such person in accordance with
this chapter. The delivery of information includes the use of any electronic or
technological means of data transfer.			&#8220;Operator&#8221; means any person
who owns, furnishes or transports materials or services by means of a utility
line.			&#8220;Person&#8221; means any individual, operator, firm, joint
venture, partnership, corporation, association, municipality, or other political
subdivision, governmental unit, department or agency, and includes any trustee,
receiver, assignee, or personal representative thereof.			&#8220;Positive
response&#8221; means a code or phrase posted by an operator or locator to the
notification center detailing the marking status of a locate
request.			&#8220;Positive response system&#8221; means the excavator-operator
information exchange system that is required by subsection E of &#xA7;
56-265.16:1 and provides the means for operators or their contract locators to
respond to and report the marking status of a locate request.			&#8220;Private
sewer lateral&#8221; means a privately owned, legally authorized utility line
that transports wastewater from one or more buildings to a sewer system utility
line owned by a sewer system operator.			&#8220;Private water lateral&#8221;
means a privately owned, legally authorized utility line that supplies water
from a water system utility line owned by a water system operator to one or more
buildings or properties.			&#8220;Sewer system&#8221; means a system of utility
lines used for conveying wastewater, and includes sewer system laterals but does
not include private sewer laterals.			&#8220;Sewer system lateral&#8221; means a
lateral utility line located in the public right-of-way or public sewer
easement, owned by a sewer system operator, and used to transport wastewater to
the operator&#8217;s main sewer line.			&#8220;Sewer system operator&#8221;
means an operator of a sewer system.			&#8220;Soft digging&#8221; means any
excavation using tools or equipment that utilize air or water pressure as the
direct means to break up soil or earth for removal by vacuum
excavation.			&#8220;Utility line&#8221; means any item of public or private
property which is buried or placed below ground or submerged for use in
connection with the storage or conveyance of water, sewage, telecommunications,
electric energy, cable television, oil, petroleum products, gas, or other
substances, and includes pipes, sewers, combination storm/sanitary sewer
systems, conduits, cables, valves, lines, wires, manholes, attachments, and
those portions of poles below ground. The term &#8220;sewage&#8221; does not
include any gravity storm drainage systems. Except for any publicly owned
gravity sewer system within a county which has adopted the urban county
executive form of government, the term &#8220;utility line&#8221; does not
include any gravity sewer system or any combination gravity storm/sanitary sewer
system within any counties, cities, towns or political subdivisions constructed
or replaced prior to January 1, 1995. No excavator shall be held liable for the
cost to repair damage to any such systems constructed or replaced prior to
January 1, 1995, unless such systems are located in accordance with &#xA7;
56-265.19.			&#8220;Water system&#8221; means a system of utility lines used for
supplying water, and does not include private water laterals.			&#8220;Water
system operator&#8221; means an operator of a water
system.			&#8220;Willful&#8221; means an act done intentionally, knowingly, and
purposely, without justifiable excuse, as distinguished from an act done
carelessly, thoughtlessly, heedlessly or inadvertently.			&#8220;Working
day&#8221; means every day, except Saturdays, Sundays, and legal state and
national holidays.

B. Unless otherwise specified, all time periods used in this chapter shall be
calculated from the time of the original locate request as provided in &#xA7;
56-265.17. In addition, all time periods exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and legal
state and national holidays.

HISTORY: 1979, c. 291; 1980, cc. 696, 710; 1992, c. 192; 1994, c. 890; 1996, c.
79; 2002, c. 841; 2010, cc. 205, 777, 832; 2023, cc. 299, 300.