UT Dig Safe

UT Dig Safe is a program designed to help identify utility lines before any excavation or underground work on the University of Texas (UT) campus. It aims to protect lives, property, and critical infrastructure by ensuring proper connections and avoiding cross-connections. A UT Dig Safe Permit is required for any work involving excavation, trenching, augering, or drilling on UT property.

The permit is required to protect lives and critical infrastructure. It ensures that all underground utility work is properly coordinated and that utility lines are accurately identified and marked to prevent damage and hazards.

The procedures include submitting a UT Dig Safe Permit Request, filing project drawings, notifying One Call or 811 at 1-800-DIG-TESS, identifying all boring, augering, and drilling activities, and maintaining a signed permit at the project site. Special care must be taken when excavating around utilities, especially those containing hazardous energy sources.

A UT Dig Safe Permit Request, along with project drawings, must be submitted to the Utilities and Energy Management Department (UEM) before the start of the work. Follow the steps above to request a UT Dig Safe Permit.

If unexpected finds such as electrical or plumbing lines are encountered, refer to the Emergency Contact Guide for Unexpected Excavation Finds. It provides guidance on how to handle such situations safely.

UT is a member of TESS, and both UT and TESS procedures must be followed for any excavation at UT. TESS works in conjunction with UT to help locate and mark public utilities in the excavation area.

Project construction inspectors must perform all contractually required inspections during installation. UEM staff will also perform specific inspections as determined through the Excavation/Utility Tap Permitting process. No utility trench should be backfilled before all UEM inspections are complete.

When digging within 3 feet of a known or suspected utility, heavy motorized equipment should be discontinued, and hand-digging or potholing should be used until the utility is located. Special care should be taken around utilities containing hazardous energy sources.

An excavation permit is valid for 14 days, including the day of issue. If the project is not completed within this period, the permit must be renewed by submitting an updated request at least seven days before the expiration.

Connecting to an existing UT utility distribution system requires advanced coordination and a written Outage Request to the appropriate UEM division at least seven working days before the proposed tie-in date. Inspections by UEM staff are also required to ensure compliance with project specifications.

For questions or help with the UT Dig Safe Permit Applications (Excavation/Utility Tap), you can email UTDigSafe@austin.utexas.edu.

Red concrete is poured over electrical and communication utility lines as a warning to stop digging. It serves as a safety measure to prevent serious hazards that could occur if these lines are disturbed.

If utility marks are lost or diminished, don’t perform or continue any work. It is the requesting party’s responsibility to ensure lines are marked and visible. Contact Texas811 and update the current ticket to have lines remarked. This ensures that the excavation can continue safely.

All boring, augering, and drilling activities must be identified at the time of the permit request and reviewed with the necessary parties before starting the work. These activities should not occur within 6 feet of any marked utility without prior approval.

Failure to follow the procedures can result in damage to utilities and adjacent properties, personnel injuries or fatalities, and the loss of the privilege to work on campus. The contractor assumes all risks and liabilities associated with any service interruption and restoration.

Extreme care must be taken to protect, support, and guard exposed utilities to prevent any damage or disturbance. The UT Project Manager and UEM should be contacted in all cases where utilities require such care.

If the excavation project is not completed within the permit's validity period, an updated UT Dig Safe Permit must be submitted for renewal. The request should be limited to the area yet to be excavated and must be made at least seven days before the permit expires.

Upon project completion, as-built drawings must be provided to UT. All electronic correspondence should be sent to TRecs Location Information Services at LIS@austin.utexas.edu.

Utility outages require advanced coordination with UEM and a written Outage Request at least seven working days before the proposed tie-in date. Some outages may require months of preparation, and the UT Project Manager should coordinate these requests.

The UT Project Manager should contact the appropriate UEM department to coordinate the request for service, establish an account, and procure a meter. This process should begin early in the construction phase due to long lead times, especially for water meters from the City of Austin.

An excavator must submit an Excavation Permit Request when moving earth by the use of motorized equipment to any depth or when hand excavating to a depth of more than 16 inches.

A completed Excavation Permit Request, along with project drawings showing the limits of excavation and the utility tie-in locations, must be filed with the Utilities and Energy Management Department (UEM) at least two full working days (48 hours – weekends and holidays excluded) prior to the start of work to ensure adequate time to issue the permit but, no earlier than the 14^th day before the excavation is to begin. The request form should be emailed to UTDigSafe@austin.utexas.edu.

The Excavation Permit Request will be reviewed for potential conflicts by the following UT departments within 48 hours or a time agreed by the excavator and UEM:

• Utilities and Energy Management
• Enterprise Technology
• Planning, Design and Construction
• Environmental Health and Safety
• Parking and Transportation Services
• Grounds and Landscaping

In accordance with Texas Utilities Code Title 5, Chapter 251, UNDERGROUND FACILITY DAMAGE PREVENTION AND SAFETY, and Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Title 16, Part 1, Chapter 18, UNDERGROUND PIPELINE DAMAGE PREVENTION, the contractor shall call One Call by dialing 811 or calling 1-800-DIG-TESS at least 48 hours prior to excavation (weekends and holidays excluded). Special care shall be taken when excavating around any utilities but, in particular those containing energy sources that may present a hazardous condition including, but not limited to, natural gas, electricity, steam, chilled water, heating hot water and domestic water. When digging within 3 feet of a known or suspected existing utility, discontinue use of heavy, motorized equipment including backhoes or excavators and begin potholing and/or hand-digging until the utility is located.

All boring, augering and drilling activities shall be identified at the time of permit request and reviewed with UEM prior to commencement of the work. Special care shall be taken to ensure that all known, existing utility locations are verified. Boring, augering and drilling shall not occur within 6 feet of any marked utility without approval from UEM.

Failure to follow the Excavation Permit Procedures may result in damage to utilities and adjacent properties, personnel injuries and/or fatalities and the loss of privilege to work on campus. By excavating on The University of Texas at Austin campus, the contractor assumes all risk of injury, property damage and liability for all costs associated with any service interruption and restoration, as well as for any claims, demands, actions, causes of actions, damages or judgments arising out of personnel injuries or property damage resulting from the excavation.

Extreme care shall be taken to protect, support and guard exposed utilities to prevent any damage or disturbance. Contact your UT Project Manager and UEM in all cases where utilities will require such care.

A copy of the signed excavation permit, the utility map and the project design documents must be maintained at the project site at all times. If requested, these documents must be presented to UT personnel.

An excavation permit is valid for fourteen (14) days including the day of issue. The requesting party shall be responsible for calling a utility location service and for maintaining the locate marks. Please remember, that in some instances traffic, rain or other weather conditions may result in marks being lost or diminished. If the excavation project is not completed at the time the excavation permit expires, the permit must be renewed by submitting an updated excavation permit. The request to renew the permit shall be limited to the area yet to be excavated. Requests for renewals of existing permits must be requested a minimum of seven (7) days prior to expiration.

When a project has been completed, as-built drawings must be provided to Kenny Cajas, Lead Utility System Programmer, 215 E. 24th Street, room 2.302F, (512) 471-1741. All electronic correspondence should be addressed to TRecs Location Information Services at LIS@austin.utexas.edu.

Connecting to an existing UT utility distribution system requires advanced coordination with, and a written Outage Request to, the appropriate Utilities and Energy Management (UEM) division at least seven working days prior to the proposed tie-in date. Some utility outages require months of advanced preparation.  Depending on the effect of the proposed outage, the outage request may be delayed. Utility outages should be coordinated through the project’s UT Project Manager. UEM will execute all outages by isolating and de-energizing the related energy sources and implementing lock-out-tag-out protocols in parallel with the requestor’s lock-out-tag-out devices.

To ensure that underground utility systems are installed according to the project specifications, the project construction inspectors should perform all of the contractually-required inspections during the course of installation. In parallel, UEM staff shall be coordinated to perform specific inspections of underground utility systems as determined through the Excavation / Utility Tap Permitting process. Inspections by UEM do not relieve the project team of the responsibility for providing the installation required by the contract documents.

Each utility type, construction method and material type has unique requirements that will be inspected by UEM staff before the project can move to the next construction phase. Under no circumstances should a utility trench be backfilled before UEM has performed all of the inspections listed on the project Excavation / Utility Tap Permit. Any backfill that is placed before all of the UEM inspections are complete will be required to be removed at the contractor’s expense so that the inspections can be performed.

If a meter is required from one of the public utility providers, the UT Project Manager should contact the appropriate UEM department to coordinate the request for service, the proper establishment of an account, and the procurement of a meter. The project that requires the meter will be responsible for all costs associated with obtaining service. UEM will provide assistance coordinating with the utility provider. This process should begin at the very outset of the construction at NTP because of the long lead times associated with procurement, especially in the case of water meters from the City of Austin.