Professional Excavator

Resources for Professional Excavators

The 5 Step Process

As a professional excavator you understand how important it is to follow the 5 Step Process for the success of your project.

Blue Stakes of Utah 811 Notification Center is the communications link between excavators and participating facility owners to contact to have underground utility lines located and marked before commencing any excavation. This service is free of charge to excavators and is funded by participating member facility owners.

Blue Stakes actively encourages all excavators to Click or Call 811 before you dig; Wait the required amount of Time; Confirm markings are complete; Respect the marks; and Dig with Care. Damage Prevention is everyone’s responsibility.

Thank you for doing your part in this combined effort to protect public safety, minimize utility service interruptions, and avoid damage to property and equipment!

Online Locate Request Applications

Blue Stakes of Utah 811 provides multiple convenient applications for submitting locate requests online. Excavators may submit locate requests online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  New requests are processed during regular business hours, 8:00 am through 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. A brief explanation of each available option is provided below.  The three options below do not require any training. To submit your request online, click on the Get Started button below the option you need.

New Request

Get started creating a new Locate Request for a simple single address.  It is as easy as filling out your information and dig location!

Revise Request

Do you have an active Locate Request that you need to view, update, request a re-mark or cancel?  Click below to get started.

Duplicate Request

Do you have a Locate Request that you need to duplicate for your own company?  Create your duplicate request here!

Remote Access Quick Ticket Entry (QTE) for Professional Excavators

This application is solely intended for use by professional excavators. Self-paced online training is required to use this application. Training typically takes approximately two hours to complete. Quick Ticket Entry is ideal for those professional excavators who submit a high volume of locate requests each week, usually with simple straightforward marking instructions, or for those professional excavators who are experienced in providing all specific, detailed location information as required for more complex requests. This application provides additional valuable tools for the excavators including the ability to submit 2nd notices and Emergency requests online. This account also provides the ability to access ticket information and ticket list access 24 hours a day and 7 days a week for locate requests processed within the previous 350 days.

To sign up for a Quick Ticket Entry user account and the required online training, click here.

If you already have a Quick Ticket Entry user account name, password and have completed the training, click on “Tools” and then on the User Account Login link to log in and start using the application.

Plan and Design For Your Project

Blue Stakes does not process non-excavation locate requests for planning and design purposes. Blue Stakes will, however, provide planning and design contact information for member facility owners for you to contact directly. This information may be obtained by using the “Utility Contact Lookup” tool at ucl.bluestakes.org.

Note: if you have an extensive area that is more complex than is easily completed through use of this tool, you may email a location area description along with your contact information to design@bluestakes.org. You will receive an email reply with the appropriate facility owner contact information for your described project area as soon as your email request can be processed. 

After Hours Emergencies

Emergency notification on weekends, holidays, or between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. on normal workdays should be reported directly to utility companies. You may access their emergency contact information using the Utility Contact Information Lookup tool on the Blue Stakes website, or directly here: ucl.bluestakes.org.

Resources

Excavators' Guide

Download the Excavator's Guide.

English | Spanish

Electronic Positive Response

Check on your locate request status or learn about the response codes used by participating Member Facility Owners reported to Blue Stakes.

jeshoots-com-LtNvQHdKkmw-unsplash

Excavation Safety 101

Access excavation training and earn DOPL, Drinking Water, or Wastewater CEUs.

Damage Prevention Awareness Seminars

Access event information as well as the previous year presentation and video.

clipart2526835

Utility Contact Lookup

Get contact information for Member Facility Owners for After-Hours Emergencies or Engineering & Design requests.

clipart1200164

FAQs

Review Frequently Asked Questions and Answers.

colors 1


Uniform Color Code & Marking Guidelines

Access the Appendix B for the CGA Best Practices.

D.I.R.T.

Report damages using the Damage Information Reporting Tool. You can also review the latest D.I.R.T. report by CGA.

More Questions?

Access additional information regarding preparing for your dig by visiting the How It Works page.

Frequently Asked Questions by Professional Excavators

It is the excavator’s responsibility to respect and protect the markings. If the markings have faded or been destroyed by weather or construction, the excavator should contact Blue Stakes and request to have the area marked again. Member utility companies are then required to re-mark the area within two business days.

Utah Law specifies that if a utility line is damaged during excavation, the excavator should immediately inform the appropriate utility owner so the line can be repaired and immediately call 911 if the damage may result in an immediate risk to human life. Refer to your local phone book to contact a utility owner directly.

If the line was marked, refer to FAQ #3 to determine what kind of line it was. If the line was not marked, please do not call Blue Stakes to determine what kind of line it is. Our phone operators are not trained to identify them. If you do have the locate request assignment number (LRA), Blue Stakes can tell you which utilities were notified, but that does not necessarily mean the line belongs to one of them.

Locate Requests are NOT created after hours by Blue Stakes. If an emergency excavation needs to be completed after hours, you will need to contact each facility operator directly to request the area be marked or have them clear the area. To obtain a list of the impacted facilities use our Utility Contact Lookup link: https://ucl.bluestakes.org/. This is also accessible by clicking on the Utility Contact Lookup icon from within our Mobile App.

 

Enter the location information, use the tools provided to indicate the location on the map, and select “Emergency After Hours.” A popup will then provide a contact list of the numbers for the specific facility operators that would need to be contacted directly after hours.

Yes indeed! The Utah Damage to Underground Utility Facilities Act requires anyone engaging in any activity which displaces earth, rock, or other material on or below the ground to notify Blue Stakes at least two (2) business days but not more than 14 calendar days prior to excavation.

You can submit a Locate Request Ticket online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at: https://ite.bluestakes.org/. There is also access to this application through our Mobile App.

The Utah state law explains it this way:

54-8a-7. Notice of damage — Repairs. (https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title54/Chapter8A/54-8a-S7.html)

(1) If an excavator contacts or damages an underground facility, the excavator shall:

(a) immediately notify the appropriate operator and then proceed in a manner that is reasonably calculated to avoid further damage to the underground facility; and

(b) immediately call 911 if the excavation may result in an immediate risk to human life.

(2) Upon receipt of notice, the operator shall immediately examine the underground facility, and, if necessary, make repairs.

 

Utah law requires utility owners to mark only the lines that they own and maintain. This usually means up to the meter. Underground lines that extend beyond the meter or that are not connected to a meter are typically not installed or owned by a utility company and therefore may not be marked. These include water and sewer laterals, power to a detached garage or lamppost, sprinkler/irrigation systems, lines connected to a propane tank or septic system, etc.

Almost every job site will include some type of privately-owned underground pipe or cable. The excavator should inspect the property carefully and ask the property owner about private underground lines before digging. The excavator should consider hiring a private locator to mark private lines that could be in conflict with the excavation project. Areas where private lines are especially common include apartment complexes, mobile home parks, gated subdivisions, cabin communities, schools and universities, hospital complexes, industrial areas, government facilities and military installations. Find additional info under FAQ #6: https://www.bluestakes.org/faqs/

A request expires 14 calendar days from the time it is submitted. If the markings are destroyed by weather or excavation, the excavator will need to call 811, option 1 to speak to a Customer Service Representative or go online to submit a Re-Mark request and allow 2 business days for the area to be re-marked.

To submit a Re-mark request online go to: https://otr.bluestakes.org/. This is also accessible by clicking on the Update Locate Request icon from within our Mobile App.

The Utah Damage to Underground Utility Facilities Act requires anyone engaging in any activity which displaces earth, rock, or other material on or below the ground to notify Blue Stakes at least two (2) business days but not more than 14 calendar days prior to excavation.

You can submit a Locate Request Ticket online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at: https://ite.bluestakes.org/. This is also accessible by clicking on the New Locate Request icon from within our Mobile App.

Pre-marking a location will save valuable resources and time. It will also help to reduce unnecessary overmarking for the type of work being completed.

While white lining or pre-marking the proposed excavation area has been recommended for years, it is not required by law in Utah. However, according to section 54-8a-4 (3) of the Damage to Underground Utility Facilities Act:

54-8a-4. Notice of excavation. (https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title54/Chapter8A/54-8a-S4.html)

(3) If the proposed excavation’s anticipated location and dimensions cannot be described as required under Subsection (2)(c) or as requested in accordance with Subsection 54-8a- 5(2)(b), an excavator shall outline the proposed excavation site using as a guideline the then- existing Uniform Color Code and Marking Guidelines, Appendix B, published by the

Common Ground Alliance, as amended in the current version of the excavators’ guide published by the statewide association established in Section 54-8a-9.


Click here to review all of our FAQs

Play Video

The 811 Process

Play Video

Why is Contacting 811 so Important?

We’re here to help

Whether you are doing some gardening or building the next skyscraper, having an active Locate Request and markings isn’t just a nice to have, it is the law!  Our website and Locate Specialists are here to help.

You can easily create your Locate Request online or if you would like assistance, call us and we’ll walk you through the process to safer digging.