2013 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 58 - Public Utilities, Services and Carriers
CHAPTER 36 - SOUTH CAROLINA UNDERGROUND FACILITY DAMAGE PREVENTION ACT
SECTION 58-36-20. Definitions.

For purposes of this chapter, the following words and terms are defined as follows:

(1) "APWA" means the American Public Works Association or successor organization or entity.

(2) "Association" means a group of operators, or their representatives, formed for the purpose of operating a notification center.

(3) "Business continuation plan" means a plan that includes actions to be taken in an effort to provide uninterrupted service during catastrophic events.

(4) "Damage" means the substantial weakening of structural or lateral support of a facility, penetration or destruction of protective coating, housing, or other protective device of a facility and the partial or complete severance of a facility.

(5) "Demolish" or "demolition" 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.

(6) "Designer" means any architect, engineer, or other person who prepares or issues a drawing or blueprint for a construction or other project that requires excavation or demolition work.

(7) "Design request" means a communication to the notification center in which a request for identifying existing facilities for advance planning purposes is made. A design request may not be used for excavation purposes.

(8) "Emergency" means a sudden or unforeseen event involving a clear and imminent danger to life, health, or property; the interruption of essential utility services; or the blockage of transportation facilities, including highway, rail, water, and air, which require immediate action.

(9) "Excavate" or "excavation" means an operation for the purpose of the movement or removal of earth, rock, or other materials in or on the ground by use of mechanized equipment or by discharge of explosives and including augering, backfilling, digging, ditching, drilling, well drilling, grading, plowing-in, pulling-in, ripping, scraping, trenching, and tunneling.

(10) "Excavator" means any person engaged in excavation or demolition.

(11) "Extraordinary circumstances" means circumstances which make it impractical or impossible for the operator to comply with the provisions of this chapter. Extraordinary circumstances may include hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, ice, snow, and acts of God.

(12) "Facility" means any underground line, underground system, or underground infrastructure used for producing, storing, conveying, transmitting, or distributing communication, electricity, gas, petroleum, petroleum products, hazardous liquids, water, steam, or sewerage. Provided there is no encroachment on any operator's right-of-way, easement, or permitted use and for purposes of this act, the following are not considered as an underground "facility": petroleum storage systems subject to regulation pursuant to Chapter 2, Title 44; septic tanks as regulated by Chapter 55, Title 44; swimming pools and irrigation systems. For purposes of this act, and provided there is no encroachment on any operator's right-of-way, easement, or permitted use, liquefied petroleum gas "systems" as defined in Section 40-82-20(8) do not constitute an underground "facility" unless such a system is subject to Title 49 C.F.R. Part 192.

(13) "Locator" means a person that identifies and marks facilities for operators.

(14) "Mechanized equipment" means equipment operated by means of mechanical power, including, but not limited to, trenchers, bulldozers, power shovels, augers, backhoes, scrapers, drills, cable and pipe plows, and other equipment used for plowing-in or pulling-in cable or pipe.

(15) "Non-mechanized equipment" means hand tools.

(16) "Notification center" means an entity that administers a system through which a person can notify operators of proposed excavations or demolitions.

(17) "Operator" means any person, public utility, communications and cable service provider, municipality, electrical utility, electric and telephone cooperatives, and the South Carolina Public Service Authority as defined in Titles 5, 6, 33, and 58, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, who owns or operates a facility for commercial purposes in the State of South Carolina.

(18) "Person" means any individual, owner, corporation, partnership, association, or any other entity organized under the laws of any state; any subdivision or instrumentality of a state; and any authorized representative thereof.

(19) "Positive response" means an automated information system that allows excavators, locators, operators, and other interested parties to determine the status of a locate request until excavation or demolition is complete.

(20) "Subaqueous" means a facility that is under a body of water, including rivers, streams, lakes, waterways, swamps, and bogs.

(21) "Tolerance zone" means:

(a) if the diameter of the facility is known, the distance of one-half of the known diameter plus twenty-four inches on either side of the designated center line;

(b) if the diameter of the facility is not marked, twenty-four inches on either side of the outside edge of the mark indicating a facility; or

(c) for subaqueous facilities, a clearance of fifteen feet on either side of the indicated facility.

(22) "Working day" means every day, except Saturday, Sunday, and legal holidays as defined by South Carolina law.

HISTORY: 2011 Act No. 48, Section 1, eff June 7, 2012.