Title 8 CCR §1541 requires that, before any excavation, the employer must determine the estimated location of utility installations (water, gas, sewer, telephone, fuel, electric, etc.) that may be encountered during digging. In California, the contractor accomplishes this primarily by:

Explanation

Section 1541(b) requires the estimated location of utility installations to be determined before excavation begins, and Government Code section 4216.2 supplies the mechanism: notify the regional notification centre - USA North 811 in the north, DigAlert in the south - at least two working days and not more than 14 calendar days beforehand, so that member operators can mark or otherwise locate their facilities. Once the marks are down, section 4216.4 requires hand tools or vacuum excavation within the tolerance zone, which is why potholing is part of the answer rather than an optional extra. Each wrong answer substitutes inference for notice: as-built drawings (a) are routinely wrong about depth and alignment, an owner (d) rarely knows what runs under the parcel, and finding the line with a backhoe (b) is how strikes happen.