Page 9 - Alabama

Alabama’s Underground Damage Prevention legislation has been enacted since 1994. Over the years there have been amendments to strengthen and improve the damage prevention program in our state. We will focus on some of the key terms and sections to ensure a thorough understanding of the underground damage prevention as outlined in Alabama state law.
Alabama’s legislation includes a definition of terms for clarification. The definition of “excavator” is very basic. Excavator is defined as “any person who engages in excavation”. Section 37-15-4 Notice of Intent to Excavate or Demolish subsection (b) states that each person responsible for excavation or demolition must give notice of the intent to excavator
or demolish to underground facility owners. The way this has been interpreted is that the locate request should be in the name of the excavator – the person engaging in excavation.
However, this does become an issue when utilizing general contractors
and sub-contractors on excavation
sites. Alabama 811 is often asked if a subcontractor can work under a general contractor locate request. That state statute doesn’t directly address this issue. In a previous review, the legal opinion Alabama 811 has been given
is this becomes more of a contractual matter regarding the general contractor agreement to accept any liability of damage on the excavation site given that the locate request is in their company name. In theory, Alabama
811 has always recommended that the locate request be in the name of the
entity doing the work at the excavation site. With this methodology, there can be no misunderstanding of who the responsible party is working at the site and the excavation practices are within compliance of the state law. When a general contractor is placing a locate request, the suggestion has been to include the name of the sub-contractor if known. This is for the protection of both the general and sub-contractor.
Alabama 811 is looking at ways
to accommodate this within the development of the new version of our software application until a directive is outlined in state statute. Until that time, for liability and safety reasons,
it is best for the entity conducting the excavation activities, familiar with the excavation site and work project, to be the entity directly placing the locate request.
Legislative Corner
In theory, Alabama 811 has always recommended that the locate request be in the name of the entity doing the work at the excavation site.
2023, Issue 3 Alabama 811 • 7