An emergency location is defined as an underground locate request where excavation or demolition must begin prior to the standard three business days. An emergency exists only when one or more of the following conditions exist:

a) The unforeseen excavation, which, if not performed, could result in the loss of life or limb.

b) The excavation is required to repair the outage of an existing service.

c) Excavation is required prior to three business days in order to prevent property damage.

d) An unstable condition exists which may result in any of the conditions listed above (for example, a leak in any service or main, or a fault in a primary or secondary wire and/or cable).

e) FOR FACILITY OWNERS ONLY: Immediate excavation is required by the facility owner to move, abandon, or cut off any facilities due to receiving less than three business days notice from a contractor.

When calling in an emergency excavation, inform the operator that an emergency situation exists and be prepared to explain which of the above conditions is in effect. The operator will prepare the ticket for immediate transmission and issue a start date equal to the time the excavation is scheduled to commence. However, all utilities must respond before you are legally cleared to dig.

For a variety of reasons it may be desirable to begin non-emergency excavation prior to the standard three business days. Diggers Hotline operators are not allowed to issue an earlier start date for non-emergency excavation. Earlier start dates must be obtained directly from each of the facility owners after placing a locate request with Diggers Hotline.

If it is absolutely necessary to start non-emergency excavation prior to the standard three business days, inform the operator that calls will be made to facility owners in order to attempt to receive approval. The operator will list the start date as the standard three business days and will also provide the phone number for each member’s locating department. If approval is not received from all the members involved, the start date issued by Diggers Hotline will remain in effect, and excavation should not begin earlier.

Most locate requests can be explained to an operator over the phone. In situations where excavation projects are large and complicated, an appointment call can make the filing of the locate request much easier. In an appointment call, the operator will take a general description of the work site. Enough information will be needed in order for members to furnish necessary facility maps to field locators.

A time will be set for the caller to meet with locators from the facility owner companies at the job site. If, for some reason, the appointment time cannot be met, the member will contact the caller to arrange a new time.

An appointment should only be set up when it seems impossible to explain the project over the phone. Many times, what seems to be a complicated project can be easily described over the phone if it is broken into several pieces.

If it is absolutely necessary to set up an appointment with representatives of member companies, the caller has two options:

•The caller may contact each facility owner after receiving a ticket number from Diggers Hotline.

•The operator can set up an appointment between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. three business days from the time of the call. The start date in either case will be listed as six business days from the time of the call. Because the appointment will explain a large and complex project, members of Diggers Hotline require three business days from the time of the appointment in order to locate their facilities.

The location of the meetings for all appointment calls should be at the actual job site or very close to it. The operator will list the exact requested meeting place on the location request.

If requesting a second appointment for the remarking of an appointment ticket, the second appointment time will be set for three business days from the time of the call, and the start date and time will be set for three business days from the time of the appointment.

Another method for explaining a large or complex project is to send a copy of the drawing, map, or print to involved members, describing the excavation site. It is still necessary to file a locate request with Diggers Hotline. The operator will issue a start date not less than 10 calendar days nor more than 30 calendar days from the current date.

Members will not be able to locate their facilities until the prints have been received, and the selected start date will become invalid if the prints or drawings are not received at least three business days prior to the selected start date. Members will then issue a new start date of three business days after the receipt of the prints.

Some callers prefer to give a complete and accurate description of the work site in addition to sending prints or drawings for reference purposes only. If this is the case, Diggers Hotline will issue the standard three business day start date and indicate on the ticket that "Prints will be sent for reference only—print # ." It should be noted, however, that a complete description of the work site is necessary in order to receive the standard start date.

On the Diggers Hotline website, you can e-mail locate requests to the call center.

Excavators can file locate requests online 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If a locate request is received by Diggers Hotline before 2:00 pm on a working day, the locate request will be processed on the same working day. If it is received after 2:00 pm, it will be processed the following working day.

To access the on-line email form, go to the Diggers Hotline website. From there, click on the Email-A-Locate icon, read the disclaimer page, click on accept, and you will be taken to the online Email-A-Locate form.

Diggers Hotline allows users to file locates directly into our computer system with remote access via an internet connection. After users enter a ticket, they will be given a start date and time and ticket number. Diggers Hotline must first train remote entry users before they are allowed to file tickets using this method.

Click here if you would like additional information.

Diggers Hotline allows excavators to fax their standard, non-emergency locate requests or planning purpose requests to Diggers Hotline, as opposed to calling them in.

Excavators can file locate requests via fax 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If a locate request is received by Diggers Hotline before 2:00 pm on a working day, the locate request will be processed on the same working day. If it is received after 2:00 pm, it will be processed the following working day.

To use the fax-a-locate program, contact Diggers Hotline for the appropriate materials to use Fax-A-Locate.