No, it is the responsibility of the person making the excavation to notify OHIO811 prior to the start of any digging work.

If you hire a contractor for a job that requires any type of digging or disturbance in the soil, you should always confirm with your contractor that they have notified OHIO811 before working on your property. You can also ask them to provide the confirmation number they received from OHIO811 and the status of each registered utility that was notified.

An “Excavator” is defined in ORC 3781.25(K) as:

“…the person or persons responsible for making the actual excavation.”

An “Excavation” is defined in ORC 3781.25(I) as follows:

“’Excavation’ means the use of hand tools, powered equipment, or explosives to move earth, rock, or other materials in order to penetrate, bore, or drill into the earth, or to demolish any structure, whether or not it is intended that the demolition will disturb the earth…”