(a) “Abandoned facility” means any underground utility line or underground utility facilities no longer used in the conduct of the owner/operator’s business and are not intended to be used in the future.

(b) “Approximate location of underground utility lines or underground facilities” means information about an operator’s underground utility lines or underground facilities which is provided to a person by an operator and must be accurate within eighteen (18) inches measured horizontally from the outside edge of each side of such operator’s facility, or a strip of land eighteen (18) inches either side of the operator’s field mark, or the marked width of the facility or line plus eighteen (18) inches on each side of the marked width of the facility or line.

(c) “Board” means the Underground Facilities Damage Prevention Board, created by Section 77-13-29.

(d) “Calendar day” means a twenty-four-hour period.

(e) “Commission” means the Mississippi Public Service Commission.

(f) “Damage” means the substantial weakening of structural or lateral support of underground utility lines and underground facilities, penetration or destruction of any protective coating, housing or other protective devices of an underground utility line or underground facility, and the partial or complete severance of any underground utility line or underground facility, but does not include any operator’s abandoned facility.

(g) “Design Information Request” means a notification made to Mississippi 811, Inc., by a person providing professional services and making a request in preparation for bidding, preconstruction engineering, or other advance planning efforts that do not involve excavation. A design information services request may not be used for excavation purposes.

(h) “Emergency excavation” means excavation at times of emergency involving danger to life, health or property or a customer service outage.

(i) “Excavate or excavation” means any operation in which earth, rock or other material or mass of material on or below the ground is moved or otherwise displaced by any means, except: (i) the tilling of the soil less than twenty-four (24) inches in depth for agricultural purposes; or (ii) an operation in which earth, rock or other material or mass of material on or below the ground is moved or otherwise displaced to a depth of less than twelve (12) inches on private property by the property owner without the use of mechanical excavating equipment; or (iii) an operation in which earth, rock or other material or mass of material on or below the ground is moved or otherwise displaced without the use of mechanical excavating equipment to a depth of less than twelve (12) inches on private property by an excavator who is not the property owner, except when such excavation is in a clearly marked underground facility right-of-way; or (iv) routine railroad maintenance activities conducted within the track structure, drainage ditches, or within the railroad right-of-way a distance not to exceed thirty (30) feet from the outside rail of the outermost track or tracks, provided this work is performed by railroad employees or railroad contractors and is carried out with reasonable care so as to protect any underground facilities properly installed in the railroad right-of-way by agreement with the railroad; or (v) routine activities of a cemetery, provided that for any cemetery that begins or expands after July 1, 2015, such activities occur only after initial notice is provided to Mississippi 811, Inc., and all affected operators have advised that there are no underground facilities within the boundaries of the subject cemetery; or (vi) routine maintenance activities carried out by or for those responsible for publicly maintained roadways and rights-of-way, provided that the activities occur entirely within the public right-of-way and do not penetrate the earth to a depth of more than twelve (12) inches and are carried out with reasonable care so as to protect any underground facilities placed in the right-of-way. Routine maintenance activities shall be more specifically described in the rules and regulations adopted by the board; or (vii) the driving of wooden stakes by use of hand tools which do not penetrate the earth to a depth of not more than six (6) inches. The term “excavate” shall include, but not be limited to, the operations of demolition, blasting, grading, land leveling, trenching, digging, ditching, drilling, augering, tunneling, scraping, cable or pipe plowing, driving, jacking, wrecking, razing, rending, moving or removing any structure or other material or mass of material on or below the ground.

(j) “Excavator” means any person who engages directly in excavation.

(k) “Mark” means the use of stakes, paint or other clearly identifiable materials to show the field location of underground facilities in accordance with the current color code standard of the American Public Works Association, or the uncovering or exposing of underground facilities so that the excavator may readily see the location of same, or the pointing out to the excavator of certain aboveground facilities such as, but not limited to, manhole covers, valve boxes and pipe and cable risers, which indicate the location of underground facilities.

(l) “Mechanical excavating equipment” means all equipment powered by any motor, engine, or hydraulic or pneumatic device used for excavating and shall include, but not be limited to, trenchers, bulldozers, backhoes, power shovels, scrapers, draglines, clam shells, augers, drills, cable and pipe plows and other plowing-in or pulling-in equipment.

(m) “Mississippi 811, Inc.” means a nonprofit corporation organized under the laws of the State of Mississippi that provides a service through which a person shall notify the operator(s) of underground facilities of plans to excavate and request marking of facilities.

(n) “Mississippi One-Call System, Inc.” means “Mississippi 811, Inc.” Whenever the term “Mississippi One-Call System, Inc.” appears in this chapter, the term shall mean “Mississippi 811, Inc.”

(o) “Operator” means any person who owns or operates a utility. However, the term “operator” shall not include any railroad or the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

(p) “Person” means any individual, firm, partnership, association, trustee, receiver, assignee, corporation, entity, limited liability company, utility, joint venture, municipality, state governmental unit, subdivision or instrumentality of the state, or any legal representative thereof.

(q) “Pipeline Safety Division” means the Pipeline Safety Division of the Public Service Commission.

(r) “Positive response information system” or “PRIS” means an automated information system operated and maintained by Mississippi 811, Inc., that allows excavators, locators, facility owners or operators, and other affected parties to enter and/or determine the status of a locate request.

(s) “Underground facility” means any underground utility lines and other items which shall be buried or placed below ground or submerged for use in connection with underground utility lines and including, but not be limited to, pipes, sewers, conduits, cables, valves, lines, wires, manholes, vaults, attachments and those portions of poles below the ground.

(t) “Underground utility lines” means underground or buried cable, conduit pipes and related facilities for transportation and delivery of electricity, telecommunications (including fiber optics), water, sewage, gas, mixtures of gases, petroleum, petroleum products or hazardous, flammable, toxic or corrosive liquids.

(u) “Utility” means any person who supplies, distributes or transports by means of underground utility lines or underground facilities any of the following materials or services: gas, mixture of gases, petroleum, petroleum products or hazardous, toxic, flammable or corrosive liquids, electricity, telecommunications (including fiber optics), sewage, drainage, water, steam or other substances.

(v) “Working day” means a twenty-four-hour period commencing from the time the locate request is processed or entered into the system by Mississippi 811, Inc., in accordance with this chapter, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays.