What is Diggers Hotline?

Diggers Hotline is the statewide one-call notification center set up under Nebraska Statute 76-2321 in 1994. The law is designed to protect the underground utilities and the well being of the people. The law requires that all utilities become a member of Diggers Hotline. The intent is to ensure that the utilities mark or identify where their utilities are buried before any dirt work begins in order to keep the utility lines from being damaged and any person from being hurt. A privately owned vendor, which is under contract to the State of Nebraska, runs Diggers Hotline. A Board of Directors who have established the operating procedures and technology needed to run the one-call notification center governs this private vendor. The Board of Directors is governed by and assigned by the State Fire Marshal.

What does Diggers Hotline do?

Diggers Hotline takes calls, faxes or emails from anyone in Nebraska who plans to dig for any reason. By asking a set of required questions a "Locate Request Ticket" is created and is then sent to each utility member that has something buried in the general vicinity of the described dig site. It is then the utility members responsibility to mark or identify where those lines are buried before the digging starts. Diggers Hotline does not do the actual marking. The utility member, or the contract locate companies they hire do the actual marking. The utility members do not report back to Diggers Hotline when the marking is complete.

Who has to call for a locate request and when?

The law states that "Excavator Defined" shall mean a person who engages in excavation in this state. That means that each person that intends to dig must make a locate request. A sub-contractor cannot work under the general contractors locate request. A homeowner should not request a ticket for a contractor doing work on their property. "Excavation defined" shall mean any activity in which earth, rock or other material in or on the ground is moved or otherwise displaced by means of tools, equipment, or explosives and shall include grading, trenching, digging, ditching, drilling, auguring, tunneling, scraping and or cable or pipe plowing or driving. So basically, anyone that plans to disturb the earth for any reason needs to request a locate before doing so. This would include homeowners that want to plant bushes, trees, flowers etc. See 76-2321 and 76-2308 and 76-2309.

What information do I need to provide?

Diggers Hotline will ask a set of questions including who you are, how to get a hold of you, the depth of the proposed excavation, the type and extent of the excavation being planned and whether the excavation will involve any tunneling or horizontal boring and whether explosives will be used. You will be asked to provide what county and city (or nearest city) the excavation will be in. You will be asked for the address, intersection or precise driving directions to the site. It is important that you give as much information as possible about your proposed excavation site. This site has to be pinpointed correctly on a map or the correct utility members may not be notified which could result in damage to the utility or harm to the excavator. In many cases white lines staking or flagging your proposed site can speed up the locate process by helping the locators see where you plan to work. See 76-2321.

How much area can I have on a locate request?

The State Board of Directors have asked that no more than 5 addresses in the same hundred block be put on each locate request. If the work does not involve locating individual addresses, then one block from intersection to intersection, can be requested per request. If the locate request is outside city limits, you can request up to six miles per locate if it is continuous work along a road.

How long before doing the work should the request be made?

The request must be made at least 2 business days, but not more than 10 business days before starting the work. When the locate is requested, Diggers Hotline will assign a work begin date which will be exactly 48 hours after the request is created not to include the weekend or a holiday. See 76-2321.

What if I can't wait 48 hours before I dig?

The law states that in an emergency, (an emergency means any condition which constitutes a clear and present danger to life, health, or property or which demands immediate action to prevent or repair a major service outage) the excavator will give notification to Diggers Hotline as soon as practical and the utility members will provide all reasonably available location information to the excavator as soon as possible. Poor planning on the part of the person digging does not constitute a locate request being sent as an emergency. See 76-2329.

What if it's not an emergency and I don't wait the required 48 hours?

If you dig before the 48 hours is up and all of the utilities have not been marked, you run the risk of hitting one of the utilities causing damage to their facility and possible injury to yourself. If you do damage to a utility line, you will be held responsible financially for that damage. There are also penalties available within the law that can be assessed by the Attorney General. See 76-2325 , 76-2325.01 and 28-519. For more information regarding the Attorney General see:
"The Attorney General Office" .

What happens after the locate request is made?

Each utility member that has something buried within the vicinity receives a copy of the locate request. They then have 2 business days to mark or clear the area. If they have anything buried in the described area of work, they will mark with paint, flags, stakes or any other clearly identifiable marks where those lines are buried. Check the APWA color code to see what colors each utility marks their line with. The utility members will mark the approximate location of the underground lines within a strip of land eighteen inches on either side of the marking or identification plus one-half of the width of the underground facility. This is their tolerance zone and it is recommended that if you need to dig within this tolerance zone, that it is done carefully by hand. See 76-2323.

How long is my locate request ticket good for?

Utility members must mark their facilities in such a manner that the markings will last a minimum of 5 business days on a nonpermanent surface and a minimum of 10 business days on any permanent surface. It has been suggested by the State Board of Directors that if at anytime during construction, the markings become unclear, the excavator should notify Diggers Hotline and another locate request ticket will be sent to the utilities requesting the area to be re-marked. See 76-2323.

What do I do if I "hit" (damage, uncover, or disturb) a utility line?

If this happens, regardless of whether you had requested a locate or not and whether that line was marked or not, the law requires you to call Diggers Hotline immediately to report the damage. Diggers Hotline will get some information from you regarding the damage and then send an "Emergency Damage" ticket to the utility members in the area. The utility members will respond to the notice to determine what was damaged and who is at fault. The utility members will not notify Diggers Hotline regarding the outcome of the damage. All correspondence concerning the damage will be between the excavator and the utility company. Diggers Hotline does keep a copy of all locate requests for 5 years and a copy can be requested by the excavator or the utility in the event a damage occurs. See 76-2326.

HELPFUL TIPS

Diggers Hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Locate requests entered into the system after business hours or on weekends or holidays will not be sent out until 7:00 am the next business day - except emergencies.

Wait until off-peak hours to call. The busiest times are weekdays from 7:00 am to 11:00 am and again from 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm.

If you use the website or fax program to enter your locate requests, be sure to watch for your response. If there is a problem with the information you provided, the request may be sent back to you asking for clarification. Do not assume that because you sent the request in that it was received. Check your emails or faxes to be sure that you have gotten a ticket number, work begin date and list of utility members that were notified. If you have not gotten a response within a few hours, call the center to see if it was received.

If you know the name of the sub-division you are working in, it can be helpful in finding the area on a map.

Make sure you are not requesting update tickets for work that is already complete or that is not ready to be started yet.

Homeowners should not request a ticket for an excavator/contractor.

A ticket for a preliminary survey where no digging will be done in the near future will be accepted. The ticket will not have a "work begin date and time" and cannot be updated. Utility members may not necessarily locate the area, but may contact the excavator to provide a map or other information regarding the area. Before digging may begin, a new ticket must be called in to have utility members mark the area.

Try to white line or flag the excavation site if possible.

A meeting can be requested if the area of excavation is large and difficult to explain.

Utility members may not locate if there is a dog in the yard.

Make sure that Diggers Hotline has a good phone number to reach you. Many times utility members try to reach the excavator to clear a ticket or to get more information but the phone number(s) on the ticket are not valid.

When calling in your locate request, be sure to pay close attention when the locate information is being read back to you before it is sent to the utility members. The reason this information is read back is to avoid mistakes that could cause the correct area to not get located. This can cause you to have to wait extra time and could potentially cause damage or someone to be hurt.