65-31-102 - Chapter definitions. - Tennessee Statutes

65-31-102. Chapter definitions.

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

     (1)  “Calendar day” means a twenty-four (24) hour period beginning with the date and time that a notification to excavate or demolish is to begin, including Monday through Sunday and all holidays;

     (2)  “Damage” includes the substantial weakening of structural or lateral support of an underground utility, penetration or destruction of any protective coating, housing or other protective device of an underground utility, the partial or complete severance of an underground utility and rendering any underground utility inaccessible;

     (3)  “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;

     (4)  “Excavate” or “excavation” means an operation for the purpose of the movement, placement, or removal of earth, rock, or other materials in or on the ground by use of mechanized equipment or by discharge of explosives, and including augering, backfilling, digging, ditching, drilling, grading, plowing-in, pulling-in, ripping, scraping, trenching and tunneling, but not including the tilling of soil for agricultural purposes; or the digging of holes for fence posts on private property in any area that is not located within a recorded easement of an operator or that is not located within one hundred feet (100¢) of the edge of the pavement of a street or highway. “Agricultural purposes” includes surface activities, such as plowing, planting and combining, but does not include blasting, setting drainage tiles, subsoiling or other sub-surface activities;

     (5)  “Impending emergency” means circumstances potentially dangerous to life, health, property, the environment or the repair or restoration of service, which would likely develop into an emergency, as defined in § 65-31-109, if excavation is not initiated within seventy-two (72) hours;

     (6)  “Location” means the proposed area for which digging or excavating is scheduled within three (3) to ten (10) working days, such area not to exceed two thousand feet (2,000¢) in length unless an excavator and an operator or an operator's designated representative, such as a one-call service, agree to a larger area;

     (7)  “Mechanized equipment” means equipment operated by means of mechanical power including 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;

     (8)  “One-Call Service” means a telephone notification service described in § 65-31-107 that provides services to its members for the purposes of receiving and distributing notification regarding planned excavations or demolitions that are required under this chapter;

     (9)  “Operator” means any person who owns or operates a utility;

     (10)  “Person” means any individual; any corporation, partnership, association, or any other entity organized under the laws of any state; any state; any subdivision or instrumentality of a state; and any employee, agent, or legal representative thereof;

     (11)  “Proposed area of excavation” means a general surface location which excavators are to furnish to operators of underground utilities or to a one-call service as defined in § 65-31-106. The proposed area of excavation does not constitute a specified depth for the purpose of complying with the provisions of this chapter;

     (12)  “Utility” means any line, system or facility used for producing, storing, conveying, transmitting, or distributing communications, electricity, gas, petroleum, petroleum products, hazardous liquids, water, steam, sewerage and other underground facilities; and

     (13)  “Working day” means every day, except Saturday, Sunday, and national and legal state holidays. For purposes of measuring any period of time that requires notice under this chapter, a working day shall commence at the time the written notice or telephone call is received and shall expire at the same time on the next working day.

[Acts 1978, ch. 692, § 2; T.C.A., § 65-3202; Acts 1993, ch. 223, §§ 1-3; 1999, ch. 73, § 1; 2006, ch. 686, § 9; 2007, ch. 218, § 1.]