When any contact is made with or any damage is suspected or done to any underground facility of a public utility, the person, public agency or public utility responsible for the operations causing the contact, suspected damage or damage shall immediately notify the public utility whose facilities have been affected, which shall dispatch its own personnel as soon as reasonably possible to inspect the underground facility and, if necessary, effect temporary or permanent repairs. If a serious electrical short is occurring or if dangerous fluids or gas are escaping from a broken line, the person, public agency or public utility responsible for the operations causing the damage shall alert all persons within the danger area and take all feasible steps to insure the public safety pending the arrival of repair personnel. As used in this section, “contact” includes, without limitation, the striking, scraping or denting, however slight, of any underground utility facility, including any underground utility facility protective coating, housing or other protective device. “Contact” does not include damage, as defined in section 16-345.

(P.A. 77-350, S. 11; P.A. 87-71, S. 7, 13; P.A. 14-94, S. 46.)

History: P.A. 87-71 required immediate notice to public utilities of any contact with or suspected damage to their underground facilities, required such public utilities to inspect such facilities as soon as possible, and defined the term “contact”; P.A. 14-94 redefined “contact” by deleting inclusion of structural or lateral support of an underground utility line, replacing “utility line” with “utility facility” and adding damage exclusion, effective October 1, 2015.