Utility Responsibility

Below is a summary of the responsibility of utilities in Minnesota for damage prevention and One Call processes.  For a complete listing of all excavator responsibility, please review Minnesota State Statute 216D here.

Responding to a Locate Request

After receiving a locate ticket for an excavation, the facility operator must locate underground facilities prior to the legal excavation start date and time on the ticket, unless otherwise agreed or in the case of an on-site meet. GSOC will issue the start time requested by the excavator as long as the time requested allows the facility operator at least two full business days (excluding weekends and holidays) to do the following:

• Physically locate and mark the horizontal location of underground facilities within the excavation site according to the American Public Works Association (APWA) color codes; or
• If the underground facilities at the excavation site cannot be located prior to the legal start date, contact the excavator to arrange a new locate due date and time that is mutually agreeable and will not unreasonably delay the excavator’s work.

Emergency excavation tickets are given top priority.

Facility members will mark facilities within the emergency excavation area as soon as practical.

If excavation, demolition or weather conditions change the locate marks and they are believed to be obliterated, obscured, missing or incorrect, the excavator shall notify the facility operator. The GSOC notification center may be re-contacted to have the facility operator verify, refresh, or remark the locate. It is important that all facilities be marked prior to digging.

Positive Response

Underground facility operators must respond to every ticket they receive from GSOC, even if there are no underground facilities in the excavation area. One way in which an underground facility operator can respond to tickets that are not in conflict is through the Internet.

Visit  www.gopherstateonecall.org and click on the Positive Response tab to submit the status of your tickets to Clear/No Conflict. For more information see Minnesota Rules Chapter 7560 located in the back of this manual.

Guidelines for Marking Underground Facilities

Underground facility operators should use the recommended guidelines for uniform temporary markings of underground facilities as approved by the Common Ground Alliance (www.commongroundalliance.com) when marking the horizontal route of any underground facility. Additional info can be found at NUCLA website, www.nucla.org.  

The operator of an underground facility should be indicated by initials or by name along with the marks indicating the horizontal location of the underground facility.

When known, the total number of lines within the ground should be indicated. The number of lines indicated should be based on the actual number of physical lines. Multiple cables twisted together to form a single facility, as in the case of electric lines, would be considered one cable for a locate purpose.

If a facility is in a duct bank or a duct structure a corridor marker may be used. The corridor marker should indicate the approximate width of the facility. A marking resembling the capital letter “H” lying on its side, will indicate the corridor marker.

When there is a strong likelihood that the marks may be destroyed, the contractor may want to request offset markings. Offsets are indicated on a permanent surface or stakes and are placed parallel to the running line of the facility. The offset should indicate the distance from the offset to the facility and should identify the facility owner and if necessary the size of the facility.

Abandoned Facilities

Facility owners are required to maintain maps, drawings, diagrams or other records of any underground facility abandoned or out-of-service. It is the facility owner’s responsibility to give the excavator any known information about the abandoned facilities location. Please refer to page 23 under “Excavator Information” for Abandoned Facilities Requirements.

Locate Tickets

Once the excavator has notified GSOC of pending excavation the call center will prepare a locate ticket that contains information provided by the excavator about the proposed excavation activity. This locate ticket is then transmitted to underground facility operators who have indicated to GSOC that they may have underground facilities in the vicinity of the excavation.

The locate ticket is valid for 14 calendar days from the start time stated on the notice. If the activity will continue after the expiration time, the excavator shall serve an additional notice prior to the expiration time of the original notice, unless arrangements are made for remarks.
When refreshing the paint and flags you have two options:

• Contact the facility operator/locator directly and ask for your job site to be refreshed, or
• Contact GSOC and have your ticket updated.

Provide Accurate Notification Areas

The area that a utility registers with Gopher State One Call to receive notification of nearby digging is referred to as your "notification area".  The notification area you provide Gopher State One Call is used to generate the tickets that your organization receives.  It is vital that if your notification area changes, that you contact Gopher State One Call with the updated information.  If new underground facilities are added, your notification area might expand.  To protect the new facilities, you will need to contact Gopher State One Call to update your notification area.  These changes can be made through Gopher State One Call's Member Service Area Mapping tool (MSAM) or by providing polygon files to Gopher State One Call. 

Maintain Accurate Contact Information

It is the utility's responsibility to provide Gopher State One Call with accurate and up-to-date contact information.  This may include: billing contacts, third party locators, holiday schedules, emergency contacts and ticket receiving method.  By informing Gopher State One Call of any information changes, you are helping your organization receive information, as well as locate tickets, in a timely and accurate manner.

Review Daily Audit Report

Gopher State One Call sends a daily audit report to each facility operator registered as a Gopher State One Call member.  It is the facility operator's responsibility to review this audit report to ensure they have received all tickets that were sent by Gopher State One Call.  If there is a discrepancy in the report and the actual number of tickets received, please contact Gopher State One Call immediately to look into the matter further.