Section effective May 22, 2026. See, also, section 58-36-20 effective until May 22, 2026. 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) "Commencement date" means the date that an excavator provides to the notification center of the excavator's intent to begin the excavation or demolition for which notice is being given. (5) "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. (6) "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. (7) "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. (8) "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. (9) "Emergency" means a sudden or unforeseen event involving a clear and imminent danger to life, health, or property; the interruption of essential existing utility services; or the blockage of transportation facilities, including highway, rail, water, and air, which require immediate action. (10)(A) "Excavate" or "excavation" means an operation for the purpose of the displacement, movement, or removal of soil, earth, rock, or other materials in or on the ground by use of hand digging, mechanized equipment or by discharge of explosives. This includes, but is not limited to, augering, blasting, boring, backfilling, digging, ditching, drilling to include directional, horizontal, and vertical, driving, grading, marine construction, partial- and full-depth patching, piling, plowing-in, pulling-in, ripping, scraping, soft digging, spudding, staking, trenching, and tunneling. (B) "Excavate" or "excavation" shall not include: (1) activity by the owner of a single-family residential property on their own land when the excavation: (a) does not encroach on any operator's known right-of-way, easement, or permitted use; (b) is performed with nonmechanized equipment; and (c) is less than twelve inches in depth; (2) tilling or plowing of soil when less than twelve inches in depth for agricultural purposes; (3) activity by an operator or an agent of an operator with nonmechanized equipment for the following purposes: (a) locating for a valid notification request; or (b) for the minor repair, connecting, or routine maintenance of an existing facility; (4) road and right-of-way maintenance activities by a governmental entity responsible for the maintenance of those roads and rights-of-way, within the designated right-of-way of such entity, including resurfacing, milling, or emergency replacement of signs critical for maintaining safety, and the reshaping of shoulders and ditches to the original road profile; provided, however, this subsection shall not apply to contractors or subcontractors acting on behalf of an entity pursuant to this subsection, unless such contractor or subcontractor is performing a repair related to a gubernatorial declared emergency or an emergency declared by the Secretary of Transportation. (11) "Excavator" means any entity or person engaged in excavation or demolition. (12) "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. (13) "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, potable and non-potable 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 chapter, 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 chapter, 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. (14) "Large project" means excavation or demolition that: (a) involves more work to locate underground facilities than can reasonably be completed within the requirements of Section 58-36-70; (b) is reasonably expected to take more than ninety days to complete; and (c) is either a: (i) highway infrastructure project that is: (A) greater than one mile measured linearly or encompasses more than a two-square-mile polygon; and (B) proposed for areas in which existing underground facilities are located; (ii) a development project that is located in areas in which existing underground facilities are located; or (iii) utility infrastructure project that is: (A) greater than one mile measured linearly or encompasses a two-square-mile polygon; and (B) proposed for areas in which existing underground facilities are located. (15) "Large project facility location agreement" means an agreement between the excavators, locators, and facility owners involved in a large project that meets the requirements in Section 58-36-75. (16) "Locator" means a person that identifies and marks facilities for operators. (17) "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. (18) "Non-mechanized equipment" means hand tools. (19) "Notice" means the provision by an excavator of information to the notification center as required by Section 58-36-60(A). (20) "Notification center" means an entity that administers a system through which a person can notify operators of proposed excavations or demolitions. (21) "Operator" means any person, public utility, communications and cable service provider, provider of interactive fiber, municipality, electrical utility, electric and telephone cooperatives, and the South Carolina Public Service Authority as defined in Titles 5, 6, 33, and 58 of the S.C. Code of Laws, who owns or operates a facility for commercial purposes in the State of South Carolina. The term "operator" includes entities that own, maintain, or operate a facility that is used to provide utility service to third parties for commercial or multi-family residential purposes, even where no separate charge is imposed for such utility service. (22) "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. (23) "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. (24) "Pre-marking" means identifying the proposed excavation or demolition site by using APWA uniform color code rules for the proposed excavation. This includes, but is not limited to, utilization of white paint, flags, whiskers, stakes, digital or virtual drawings, prints, and other elements identifying the proposed excavation visually. If the locate notice indicates the existence of pre-marks, the location of those marks must be described on the notice. (25) "Private facility" is a facility owned and operated by a person or entity that is not an operator. (26) "Project initiator" means the person or entity that causes a large project to be initiated. The project initiator for large projects for highway infrastructure shall be the South Carolina Department of Transportation; the project initiator for large projects for development shall be the development owner; and the project initiator for a utility infrastructure project shall be the utility infrastructure project owner. (27) "Soft digging" means any excavation using tools or equipment that utilizes air or water pressure as the direct means to break up soil or earth for removal by vacuum excavation. (28) "Subaqueous" means a facility that is under a body of water, including rivers, streams, lakes, waterways, swamps, and bogs. (29) "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. (30) "Working day" means every day, except Saturday, Sunday, and legal holidays as defined by South Carolina law.