Section 18.2 - DefinitionsThe following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) Damage--Includes but is not limited to: (A) defacing, scraping, displacement, penetration, destruction, or partial or complete severance of an underground pipeline or of any protective coating, housing, or other protective device of an underground pipeline;(B) weakening of structural or lateral support of an underground pipeline that affects the integrity of the pipeline; or(C) failure to properly replace the backfill surrounding an underground pipeline.(2) Demolish or demolition--Any operation by which a structure or mass of material is wrecked, razed, rendered, moved, or removed by means of any tools, equipment, or discharge of explosives.(3) Emergency--A situation that endangers life, health, or property or a situation in which the public need for uninterrupted service and immediate re-establishment of service if services are interrupted compels immediate action.(4) Excavate--Movement of earth by any means.(5) Excavator--A person that engages in or is preparing to engage in the movement of earth.(6) Hand digging--Any movement of earth using non-mechanized tools or equipment, soft digging, or vacuum excavation. Hand digging includes but is not limited to digging with shovels, picks, and manual post hole diggers.(7) Legal holiday--A holiday specified as a legal holiday by Subchapter B, Chapter 662, Texas Government Code.(8) Locate or marking--An operator's or its contract locator's physical demarcation of the location of an underground pipeline.(9) Locate ticket, line locate ticket, or ticket--The record of the notice of intent to excavate given by an excavator to a notification center in conformance with Texas Utilities Code, §§ RSA 251.151 and RSA 251.152.(10) Locator--A person charged with determining and marking the approximate horizontal location of underground pipeline that may exist within an area either specified by a notice served on a notification center or designated by white-lining.(11) Movement of earth--Any operation in which earth, rock, or other material in the ground, any structure, or any mass of material is moved, removed, disturbed, or otherwise displaced by hand digging, mechanized equipment or tools of any kind, or explosives, and includes but is not limited to augering, backfilling, boring, cable or pipe plowing and driving, compressing, cutting, demolition, digging, ditching, dragging, dredging, drilling, grading, plowing-in, pulling-in, razing, rendering, ripping, scraping, tilling of earth at a depth exceeding 16 inches, trenching, tunneling, or wrecking.(12) Mechanized equipment or tool--A piece of equipment or a tool operated by mechanical power, including but not limited to a tractor, trencher, bulldozer, power shovel, auger, backhoe, scraper, drill, cable or pipe plow and/or driver, and other equipment used to plow in or pull in cable or pipe.(13) Notification center--A legal entity established and operated pursuant to Texas Utilities Code, Chapter 251, Subchapter C.(14) Notify, notice, or notification--The completed delivery of information to the person to be notified, and the receipt of that information by that person in accordance with this chapter. The delivery of information includes but is not limited to the use of any electronic or technological means of data transfer.(15) Operator--A person who operates on his or her own behalf, or as an agent designated by the owner, a pipeline containing flammable, toxic, or corrosive gas, a hazardous liquid, or carbon dioxide.(16) Person--Any individual, operator, firm, joint venture, partnership, corporation, association, municipality, or other political subdivision, governmental unit, department or agency, and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative thereof.(17) Positive response--Notification to an excavator by markings left at an excavation site, or by fax, phone, e-mail, pager, or written correspondence that allows an excavator to know prior to the beginning of excavation that underground pipelines have been located and marked or that there are no underground pipelines in the vicinity of the excavation.(18) Soft digging--Any movement of earth using tools or equipment that use air or water pressure as the direct means to break up soil or earth for removal by vacuum excavation.(19) Spot marking--Making a circle around the spot where excavation is to take place, typically used when standard marking techniques would be considered damaging to property or cannot be used because of limited space.(20) Tillage--The manipulation of soil in preparation for planting and the cultivation by loosening or breaking up of soil around growing plants by hand digging or by use of a moldboard, disk, rotary, chisel or subsoil plow, a cultivator, a harrow, or a tiller.(21) Tolerance zone--Half the nominal diameter of the underground pipeline plus a minimum of 18 inches on either side of the outside edge of the underground pipeline on a horizontal plane.(22) TDRF--The Texas Damage Reporting Form, the on-line reporting system of the Railroad Commission for use in reporting damage to underground pipelines or violations of this chapter.(23) Underground pipeline--A pipeline containing flammable, toxic, or corrosive gas, a hazardous liquid, or carbon dioxide that is located partially or totally underground.(24) White-lining--An excavator's designation on the ground of the area to be excavated using white paint, white flags, white stakes, or any combination of these.(25) Working day--Every day that is not a Saturday, a Sunday, or a legal holiday.16 Tex. Admin. Code § 18.2
The provisions of this §18.2 adopted to be effective September 1, 2007, 32 TexReg 3545