3781.26 Protection service for underground utility facilities. - Ohio Statutes

3781.26 Protection service for underground utility facilities.

(A) Each utility that owns or operates underground utility facilities shall participate in and register the location of its underground utility facilities with a protection service that serves the area where the facilities are located. A utility may elect to participate in the service on a limited basis and if it does so, it shall register the location of its underground utility facilities only by identifying the municipal corporations, and outside the limits of a municipal corporation, the townships by county in which it has facilities. The service shall establish reasonable fees for limited basis participants.

(B) Protection services, utilities, excavators, excavation equipment dealers, the public utilities commission of Ohio, the board of building standards, local law enforcement agencies, and fire departments should publicize the importance of ascertaining the location of underground utility facilities before excavating and the use of protection services to ascertain that information.

(C) A protection service shall maintain records of notifications received from developers, designers, and excavators, and of its notifications made to utilities, developers, designers, and excavators, under sections 3781.27 and 3781.28 of the Revised Code. The records of a protection service shall identify by reference number, the notifications it received regarding a proposed excavation site, the notifications it provided regarding a proposed excavation site, and the date and time of each notification.

Effective Date: 03-14-1989