(a) If any person damages, dislocates, or disturbs an underground facility or exposes an unmarked underground facility during excavation, the person must immediately notify the owner or operator of the underground facility. An excavator must take reasonable steps to find who owns or operates any unmarked line, including notifying the one-telephone-number utility notification system.
(b) If any gas or flammable liquid underground facility is severed, or damaged to the extent that its contents escape or may imminently escape, the excavator must immediately notify the public service company that operates the underground facility and the county emergency operations center.
(c) A person must not bury a damaged underground facility until:
(1) The public service company has been notified; and
(2) The public service company has repaired the damage or has given the excavator permission to bury the facility.
(d) During an emergency an excavator may excavate, without notifying a public service company as required in this chapter, to relieve any immediate danger to life, health or property, if:
(1) The excavator notifies the public service company as soon as possible;
(2) The excavator does not use any blasting; and
(3) The excavator takes all reasonable precautions to protect the underground facilities. (1988 L.M.C., ch. 40, § 1.)