Section 407-895-2 - DEFINITIONS As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms shall have the following meanings.
A.Business day. "Business day" means a 24-hour day other than Saturday, Sunday or a legal Maine holiday.B.Borrow pit. "Borrow pit" has the same meaning as provided in 38 M.R.S.A. §482(1-A).C.Commercial timber harvesting activity. "Commercial timber harvesting activity" means the cutting or removal of timber for the primary purpose of selling or processing forest products and includes the attendant operation of mobile or portable chipping mills and of cutting and skidding machinery and the creation, use and maintenance of skid trails, skid roads, winter haul roads and other roads to facilitate timber harvesting.D.Commission. "Commission" means the Maine Public Utilities Commission.E.Damage. "Damage" means any impact upon, or removal of support from, an underground facility as a result of excavation or demolition, which according to the operating practices of the operator would necessitate the repair of such facility.E-1.Damage prevention incident. "Damage prevention incident" means an occurrence in which one or more provisions of the Dig Safe law are violated, regardless of whether there is damage to underground facilities.F.Damage prevention system or system. "Damage prevention system" or "system" means an organization whose membership is open to all operators of underground facilities located within the State of Maine, which maintains a database, provided by its member operators, that includes the geographic areas in which its member operators desire transmission of notices of proposed excavation and which has the capability to transmit notices of proposed excavation to member operators by teletype, facsimile, computer or telephone.G.Demolition. "Demolition" means any operation by which a structure or material is wrecked, razed, rendered, moved or removed by means of any tools, equipment or discharge of explosives which could damage underground facilities.H.Dig Safe System, Inc. or Dig Safe. "Dig Safe System, Inc." or "the Dig Safe System" means the damage prevention system operating in Maine.I.Emergency excavation. "Emergency excavation" means immediate excavation necessary to prevent injury, death, or loss of an existing vital service.J.Excavation. "Excavation" means any operation in which earth, rock or other material below the ground is moved or otherwise displaced, by means of power tools, power equipment or explosives and includes grading, trenching, digging, ditching, drilling, auguring, tunneling, scraping and cable or pipe driving, except tilling of soil and gardening or displacement of earth, rock or other material for agricultural purposes.K.Excavator. "Excavator" means any person proposing to make, making or contracting for an excavation.L.Mechanical means of excavation. "Mechanical means of excavation" means excavation using any device or tool powered by an engine except air vacuum methods of excavation.M.Member operator. "Member operator" means an operator that is a member of Dig Safe, Inc.N.Notify, notice or notification. "Notice" or "notification" means the delivery of all required information to the person to be notified and the receipt of it by such person in accordance with this rule. To "notify" means to give notice in accordance with the requirements of this rule.O.Non-member operator. "Non-member operator" means an operator that is not a member of Dig Safe, Inc.P.Operator. "Operator" means the owner or operator of an underground facility. Within this rule, operators are further categorized as "member operators" and "non-member operators."Q.Person. "Person" means an individual, partnership, municipality, state, county, political subdivision, public utility, joint venture or corporation and includes the employer of an individual.R.Respondent. "Respondent" means a person alleged to have committed a violation under this rule or 23 M.R.S.A. §3360-A.S.Serious damage prevention incident. "Serious damage prevention incident" means a damage prevention incident that results in the loss of human life, personal injury requiring in-patient hospital admission, evacuation, or potential damages exceeding $10,000, or that has the potential to pose a significant hazard to the health or welfare of the public.T.Shoulder-grading activity. "Shoulder-grading Activity" means highway maintenance work that involves the use of a motorgrader or other suitable construction equipment with a blade on the shoulder of a road to remove accumulated sand, gravel, sod or other material to establish drainage away from the traveled portion of the highway.U.Underground facility or facility. "Underground facility" or "facility" means any item of personal property buried or placed below ground for use in connection with the storage or conveyance of water, sewage, electronic, telephonic or telegraphic communications, cable television service, electric energy, oil, gas or other substances and including, but not limited to, pipes, sewers, conduits, cables, valves, lines, wires, manholes, attachments, appurtenances thereto and those parts of poles below ground. This definition shall not include highway drainage culverts or underdrains.V.Underground facility operator. "Underground facility operator" means the owner or operator of any underground facility, other than an underground oil storage facility as defined in 38 M.R.S.A. §562-A(21) or an airport aviation fuel hydrant piping system, used in furnishing electric, telephone, telegraph, gas, petroleum transportation or cable television service. "Underground facility operator" does not include a municipality or a public utility with fewer than five full-time employees or fewer than 300 customers or a person that owns underground facilities on its own property for commercial or residential purposes.W.Violation. "Violation" means any of the actions identified in 23 M.R.S.A. §3360-A(6-C) (the Dig Safe law) as violations subject to the imposition of an administrative penalty and acts of non-compliance with the provisions of this rule.65-407 C.M.R. ch. 895, § 2