§1749.12. Definitions
As used in this Part, the following terms have the meanings ascribed to them in this
Section:
(1) "Agricultural excavator" means a person who owns or operates a farm and is
directly involved in the cultivation of land or crops or who raises livestock.
(2) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of conservation.
(3) "Damage" means any defacing, scraping, gouging, breaking, cutting, or
displacement of, impact upon or removal of an underground facility or utility or its means
of primary support.
(4) "Demolisher" means any person engaged in the act of demolishing as defined in
Paragraph (2) of this Section.
(5) "Demolition" means the total or partial wrecking, razing, rendering, moving, or
removing of any building or structure, movable or immovable.
(6) "Emergency" means any crisis situation which poses an imminent threat or
danger to life, health, or property, which requires immediate action, if such action is taken.
The term also includes an unplanned utility outage, which requires immediate action, if such
action is taken.
(7) "Excavation" or "excavate" means any operation causing movement or removal
of earth, rock, or other materials in or on the ground or submerged in a marine environment
that could reasonably result in damage to underground or submerged utilities or facilities by
the use of powered or mechanical or manual means, including but not limited to pile driving,
digging, blasting, augering, boring, back filling, dredging, compaction, plowing-in,
trenching, ditching, tunneling, land-leveling, grading, and mechanical probing. "Excavation"
or "excavate" shall not include manual probing, normal commercial farming operations, or
any activity resulting from force majeure related occurrences, including but not limited to an
act of God or an act of nature.
(8) "Excavator" means any person who engages in excavation operations.
(9) "Forestry excavator" means an excavator who is a logger, prescribed burner, site
preparation operator, or tree planter for commercial forestry operations.
(10) "Inclement weather" means weather that prohibits or impedes a worker's use of
his locating equipment or causes undue risk to himself or his equipment such as lightning,
heavy rain, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, sleet, snow, or flooding conditions.
(11) "Large project excavation or demolition" means excavation or demolition
activity within a contiguous area that cannot reasonably be completed within twenty calendar
days for routine demolition or excavation or within thirty calendar days for agricultural,
forestry, or marine excavation or demolition activity.
(12) "Marine excavator" means an excavator or demolisher who is performing
excavation or demolition in areas such as swamps, wetlands, shallow water, waterways,
rivers, bayous, bays, lakes, the sea, and arms of the sea.
(13) "Mark-by time" is the date and time provided by the regional notification center
by which the utility or facility operator is required to mark the location or provide
information to enable an excavator or demolisher, using reasonable and prudent means, to
determine the specific location of the utility or facility as provided for in R.S. 40:1749.14(D).
The mark-by time may be extended if mutually agreed upon and documented between the
excavator and operator.
(14) "Normal commercial farming operations" means the following operations or
activities for agriculture cultivation purposes:
(a) Operations or activities that do not encroach upon a private utility or pipeline
servitude, public right-of-way, or a public franchise area.
(b) Operations or activities that do encroach upon a private utility or pipeline
servitude and the depth of the excavation is less than twelve inches in the soil below the
existing surface grade.
(15) "Operator" means any person who owns or operates a public or private
underground facility or utility which furnishes a service or material or stores, transports, or
transmits electric energy, steam, oil, gases, natural gas, gas, mixture of gases, petroleum,
petroleum products, hazardous or flammable fluids, toxic or corrosive fluids/gases, including
telephone or telegraph system, fiber optic electronic communication systems, or water or
water systems, or drainage, sewer systems, or traffic control systems or other items of like
nature.
(16) "Person" means an individual, firm, partnership, association, limited liability
company, corporation, joint venture, municipality, governmental agency, political
subdivision, or agent of the state or any legal representative thereof.
(17) "Pipeline" means all intrastate and interstate pipeline facilities defined by 49
CFR 192.3 and 49 CFR 195.2.
(18) "Regional notification center" means any one of the following:
(a) An entity designated as nonprofit by the Internal Revenue Service under Section
501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code and which is organized to protect its members from
damage and is certified by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections in accordance
with this Part.
(b) An organization of operators, consisting of two or more separate operators who
jointly have underground utilities or facilities in three or more parishes in Louisiana, which
is organized to protect its own installation from damage and has been certified by the
Department of Public Safety and Corrections in accordance with this Part.
(c) An operator who has underground utilities or facilities in a majority of parishes
in Louisiana and is organized to protect its own installation from damage, and has been
certified by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections in accordance with this Part.
(19) "Routine excavation or demolition" means excavation or demolition activity that
requires no more than twenty calendar days to be completed, and no more than thirty
calendar days for agricultural, forestry, or marine excavation or demolition activity.
(20) "Service line or lines" means underground facilities or utilities which provide
power, gas, natural gas, communication, or water capabilities to a building or structure or
buildings or group of structures.
(21) "Underground facility or utility" means any pipe, conduit, duct, wire, cable,
valve, line, fiber optic equipment, or other structure which is buried or placed below ground
or submerged for use in connection with storage, conveyance, transmission, or protection of
electronics communication system, telephone or telegraph system, or fiber optic, electric
energy, oil, natural gas, gas, gases, steam, mixture of gases, petroleum, petroleum products,
hazardous or flammable fluids/gases, toxic or corrosive fluids/gases, hazardous fluids/gases,
or other substances of like nature or water or water systems, sewer systems or traffic,
drainage control systems, or other items of like nature.
(22) "Wildfire" means an uncontrolled combustion of natural vegetation.