69-4-501. Definitions. - Montana Statutes

     69-4-501. Definitions. The following definitions apply to this part:
     (1) "Business day" means any day other than Saturday, Sunday, New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.
     (2) "Emergency excavation" means an excavation in response to an emergency locate that is necessary to:
     (a) alleviate a condition that constitutes a clear and present danger to life or property; or
     (b) repair a customer outage involving a previously installed utility-owned facility.
     (3) "Emergency locate" means a locate and mark that is requested for:
     (a) a condition that constitutes a clear and present danger to life or property; or
     (b) a customer outage for which repairs on a previously installed utility-owned facility are required.
     (4) (a) "Excavation" means an operation in which earth, rock, or other material in the ground is moved, removed, or otherwise displaced by means or use of any tools, equipment, or explosives. The term includes but is not limited to grading, trenching, digging, ditching, drilling, augering, tunneling, scraping, and cable or pipe plowing and driving.
     (b) Excavation does not include surface road grading maintenance or road or ditch maintenance that does not change the original road or ditch grade or flow line.
     (5) "Excavator" means a person conducting the excavation activities defined in subsection (4).
     (6) "Identified but unlocatable underground facility" means an underground facility that has been identified but cannot be located with reasonable accuracy.
     (7) "Incident" means a violation of the provisions of 69-4-503(1) by an excavator that, at a single location on a single day, results in damage to an underground facility or the property of a third party or in bodily injury or death to any person other than the excavator.
     (8) "Incident history" means the total number of incidents experienced by an excavator in the 5 years preceding the most recent incident. The incident history must be used to determine damage fees for violation of 69-4-503(1).
     (9) "Locatable underground facility" means an underground facility that can be field-located and field-marked with reasonable accuracy.
     (10) "Locate" means to use specialized equipment to identify the location of underground facilities or the actual location of underground facilities identified by the use of specialized equipment.
     (11) "Mark" means the use of stakes, paint, or other clearly identifiable material to show the field location or absence of underground facilities, in accordance with the current color code standard of the American public works association. Marking must include identification letters indicating the specific type of underground facility and the width of the facility if it is greater than 6 inches.
     (12) "One-call notification center" means a service through which a person may request a locating and marking of underground facilities.
     (13) "Person" means an individual, partnership, firm, joint venture, corporation, association, municipality, governmental unit, department, or agency and includes a trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative of the listed entities.
     (14) "Reasonably accurate" means location within 18 inches of the outside lateral dimensions of both sides of an underground facility.
     (15) (a) "Underground facility" means a facility buried or placed below ground for use in connection with the storage or conveyance of water, sewage, electronic, telephonic or telegraphic communications, cablevision, fiber optics, electrical energy, oil, gas, or other substances. The term includes but is not limited to pipes, sewers, conduits, cables, valves, lines, wires, manholes, and attachments to the listed items.
     (b) The term does not include shallow underground water systems designed to irrigate lawns, gardens, or other landscaping.

     History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 180, L. 1971; R.C.M. 1947, 32-4801; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 286, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 179, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 61, Ch. 7, L. 2001; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 544, L. 2005.