220 ILCS 50/10
Upon notice by the person engaged in excavation or demolition, the person owning or operating underground utility facilities in or near the excavation or demolition area shall cause a written record to be made of the notice and shall mark, within 48 hours of receipt of notice or by the requested date and time indicated on the notice, whichever is later , the approximate locations of such facilities so as to enable the person excavating or demolishing to establish the location of the underground utility facilities . Owners and operators of underground sewer facilities that are located outside the boundaries of a municipality having a population of at least 1,000,000 inhabitants shall be required to respond and mark the approximate location of those sewer facilities when the excavator indicates, in the notice required in Section 4, that the excavation or demolition project will exceed a depth of 7 feet. "Depth", in this case, is defined as the distance measured vertically from the surface of the ground to the top of the sewer facility. Owners and operators of underground sewer facilities that are located outside the boundaries of a municipality having a population of at least 1,000,000 inhabitants shall be required at all times to locate the approximate location of those sewer facilities when: (1) directional boring is the indicated type of excavation work being performed within the notice; (2) the underground sewer facilities owned are non-gravity, pressurized force mains; or (3) the excavation indicated will occur in the immediate proximity of known underground sewer facilities that are less than 7 feet deep. Owners or operators of underground sewer facilities that are located outside the boundaries of a municipality having a population of at least 1,000,000 inhabitants shall not hold an excavator liable for damages that occur to sewer facilities that were not required to be marked under this Section, provided that prompt notice of the damage is made to the State-Wide One-Call Notice System and the utility owner as required in Section 7.
All persons subject to the requirements of this Act shall plan and conduct their work consistent with reasonable business practices. Conditions may exist making it unreasonable to request that locations be marked within 48 hours or by the requested date and time indicated on the notice, whichever is later . It is unreasonable to request owners and operators of underground utility facilities to locate all of their facilities in an affected area upon short notice in advance of a large or extensive nonemergency project, or to request extensive locates in excess of a reasonable excavation or demolition work schedule, or to request locates under conditions where a repeat request is likely to be made because of the passage of time or adverse job conditions. Owners and operators of underground utility facilities must reasonably anticipate seasonal fluctuations in the number of locate requests and staff accordingly.
If a person owning or operating underground utility facilities receives a notice under this Section but does not own or operate any underground utility facilities within the proposed excavation or demolition area described in the notice, that person, within 48 hours or by the requested date and time indicated on the notice, whichever is later, after receipt of the notice, shall so notify the person engaged in excavation or demolition who initiated the notice, unless the person who initiated the notice expressly waives the right to be notified that no facilities are located within the excavation or demolition area. The notification by the owner or operator of underground utility facilities to the person engaged in excavation or demolition may be provided in any reasonable manner including, but not limited to, notification in any one of the following ways: by face-to-face communication; by phone or phone message; by facsimile; by posting in the excavation or demolition area; or by marking the excavation or demolition area. The owner or operator of those facilities has discharged the owner's or operator's obligation to provide notice under this Section if the owner or operator attempts to provide notice by telephone or by facsimile, if the person has supplied a facsimile number, but is unable to do so because the person engaged in the excavation or demolition does not answer his or her telephone or does not have an answering machine or answering service to receive the telephone call or does not have a facsimile machine in operation to receive the facsimile transmission. If the owner or operator attempts to provide notice by telephone or by facsimile but receives a busy signal, that attempt shall not serve to discharge the owner or operator of the obligation to provide notice under this Section.
A person engaged in excavation or demolition may expressly waive the right to notification from the owner or operator of underground utility facilities that the owner or operator has no facilities located in the proposed excavation or demolition area. Waiver of notice is only permissible in the case of regular or nonemergency locate requests. The waiver must be made at the time of the notice to the State-Wide One-Call Notice System. A waiver made under this Section is not admissible as evidence in any criminal or civil action that may arise out of, or is in any way related to, the excavation or demolition that is the subject of the waiver.
For the purposes of this Act, underground facility operators may utilize a combination of flags, stakes, and paint when possible on non-paved surfaces and when dig site and seasonal conditions warrant. If the approximate location of an underground utility facility is marked with stakes or other physical means, the following color coding shall be employed:
Underground Facility Identification Color
Facility Owner or Agent Use Only
Electric Power, Distribution and
Transmission........................ Safety Red
Municipal Electric Systems.............. Safety Red
Gas Distribution and Transmission....... High Visibility Safety
Yellow
Oil Distribution and Transmission....... High Visibility Safety
Yellow
Telephone and Telegraph Systems......... Safety Alert Orange
Community Antenna Television Systems.... Safety Alert Orange
Water Systems........................... Safety Precaution Blue
Sewer Systems........................... Safety Green
Non-potable Water and Slurry Lines...... Safety Purple
Excavator Use Only
Temporary Survey........................ Safety Pink
Proposed Excavation..................... Safety White (Black
when snow is on the
ground)
220 ILCS 50/10