New Jersey § 48:2-75

§ 48:2-75.

As used in this act: “ Board ” means the Board of Public Utilities; “ Business day ” means any day other than Saturday, Sunday, or a nationally or State recognized holiday; “ Damage ” means any impact or contact with an underground facility, its appurtenances or its

protective coating or any weakening of the support for the facility or protective

housing, including, but not limited to a break, leak, dent, gouge, groove, or other

damage to the facility, its lines, or their coating or cathodic protection. “ Emergency ” means any condition constituting a clear and present danger to life, health or property

caused by the escape of any material or substance transported by means of an underground

facility or the interruption of a vital communication or public service that requires

immediate action to prevent or mitigate loss or potential loss of the communication

or public service, or any condition on or affecting a transportation right-of-way

or transportation facility that creates a risk to the public of potential injury or

property damage; “ Excavate ” or “ excavating ” or “ excavation ” or “ demolition ” means any operation in which earth, rock, or other material in the ground is moved,

removed, or otherwise displaced by means of any tools, equipment, or explosive, and

includes but is not limited to drilling, grading, boring, milling to a depth greater

than six inches, trenching, tunneling, scraping, tree and root removal, cable or pipe

plowing, fence post or pile driving, and wrecking, razing, rending, or removing any

structure or mass material, but does not include routine residential property or right-of-way

maintenance or landscaping activities performed with non-mechanized equipment, excavation

within the flexible or rigid pavement box within the right-of-way, or the tilling

of soil for agricultural purposes to a depth of 18 inches or less; “ Excavator ” means any person performing excavation or demolition and may include a contractor having oversight for an excavation or demolition to be

performed by rented, operated equipment under the contractor's on-site direction provided

the contractor contacts the One-Call Damage Prevention System in the contractor's

name, thereby assuming responsibility and liability, to give notice of the intent

to engage in excavation or demolition work in that manner ; “ Hand digging ” means any excavation involving non-mechanized tools or equipment, including but

not limited to digging with shovels, picks and manual post-hole diggers; “ Mechanized equipment ” means equipment powered by a motor, engine, or hydraulic, pneumatic or electrical

device, including but not limited to trenchers, bulldozers, power shovels, augers,

backhoes, scrapers, drills, cable and pipe plows, and other equipment used for plowing-in

cable or pipe, but does not include tools manipulated solely by human power; “ One-Call Damage Prevention System ” means the communication system established pursuant to section 4 of this act; 1 “ Operator ” means a person owning or operating, or controlling the operation of, an underground

facility, but shall not include a homeowner who owns only residential underground

facilities, such as an underground lawn sprinkler system or an underground structure

for a residential low-voltage lighting system; “ Person ” means any individual, firm, joint venture, partnership, corporation, association,

State, county, municipality, public agency or authority, bi-state or interstate agency

or authority, public utility, cooperation association, or joint stock association,

and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative thereof; “ Public entity ” means any federal, State, county or municipal entity responsible for issuing road

opening, building, blasting, demolition or excavation permits; “ Site ” means the specific place where excavation work is performed or to be performed and

shall be identified by street address referenced to the nearest intersecting street

and subdivision name, if applicable, as well as by lot and block number, if available

and by kilometer or mile marker for railways; “ State department or agency ” means any department, public authority, public agency, public commission, or other

political subdivision of the State, including any county, municipality or political

subdivision thereof ; and “ Underground facility ” means any public or private personal property which is buried, placed below ground,

or submerged on a right-of-way, easement, public street, other public place or private

property and is being used or will be used for the conveyance of water, forced sewage,

telecommunications, cable television, electricity, oil, petroleum products, gas, optical

signals, or traffic control, or for the transportation of a hazardous liquid regulated

pursuant to the “Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979” ( 49 U.S.C. app. s. 2001 et seq. ), but does not include storm drains or gravity sewers. 1

N.J.S.A. § 48:2-76.