Arizona Revised Statutes

Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 40-360.21 (2026)

Definitions

✓ current as of May 2026

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In this article, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. "Abandoned" means no longer in service and physically disconnected from a portion of the facility, or from any other facility, that is in use or still carries service.

2. "Apartment community" means any real property that has one or more structures and contains five or more dwelling units for rent or lease that are subject to title 33, chapter 10. For the purposes of this paragraph "dwelling unit" has the same meaning prescribed in section 33-1310.

3. "Building official" means the agency or officer employed by a political subdivision of this state and charged with the administration and enforcement of a building code to regulate the quality, type of material and workmanship of construction of buildings or structures.

4. "Careful and prudent manner" means conducting an excavation in such a way that when the excavation is less than or equal to twenty-four inches from an underground facility that is marked with stakes or paint or in some customary manner, the facility is carefully exposed with hand tools, and the uncovered facility is supported and protected.

5. "Carefully" means acting with reasonable care under the circumstances.

6. "Cross culverts or similar roadway drainage facilities" means transverse drainage structures with both ends or openings visible including box culverts, drainage pipes or other covered structures.

7. "Detectible underground location device" means any device that is installed underground and that is capable of being detected from above ground with an electronic locating device.

8. "Excavation" means any operation in which earth, rock or other material in the ground is moved, removed or otherwise displaced by means or use of any tools, equipment or explosives and includes, without limitation, grading, trenching, digging, ditching, drilling, augering, boring, tunnelling, scraping, cable or pipe plowing and driving.

9. "Implied easement" means any easement or right-of-way on private property required to provide utility services by means of underground facilities in property of the owner requesting such service.

10. "Inactive" means:

(a) That portion of an underground facility that is not in use but is still connected to the facility, or to any other facility, that is in use or still carries service.

(b) A new underground facility that has not been connected to any portion of an existing facility.

11. "Installation records of an underground facility" means maps, drawings, diagrams, surveys, schematics, illustrations, sketches or any other depictions or descriptions of an underground facility that reflect the location at the time of installation of the underground facility and any surface extensions in a reasonably accurate manner.

12. "Homeowners' association" has the same meaning prescribed in section 33-2001.

13. "Landlord" has the same meaning prescribed in section 33-1310 for an apartment community and has the same meaning prescribed in section 33-1409 for a mobile home park.

14. "Locator strip" means a type of detectible underground location device that consists of a plastic or other durable material ribbon containing a material capable of being detected from above ground with an electronic locating device and color coded by type of underground facility.

15. "Locator wire" means a type of detectible underground location device that consists of a copper wire or metallic, conductive, noncorrosive trace wire capable of being detected from above ground with an electronic locating device.

16. "Mobile home park" has the same meaning prescribed in section 33-1409.

17. "One-call notification center" means an organization of owners or operators of underground facilities that provides a telephone number notification service for the purpose of receiving and distributing to its members advance notifications from persons regarding planned excavations.

18. "Person" means any individual, firm, joint venture, partnership, corporation, association, homeowners' association, municipality, governmental unit, department or agency and shall include any trustee, receiver, assignee or personal representative thereof.

19. "Routine road maintenance grading" means the routine grading or resurfacing of the concrete, asphaltic or composite surface but not the subbase of a roadway by the state or a political subdivision of the state for the purpose of maintaining the surface condition of the road and includes recovery of material from a borrow ditch.

20. "Stakes or paint or in some customary manner" means marking the location of an underground facility by the colors established by the commission. These colors shall be restricted to the underground facility location.

21. "Underground facilities operator" means a public utility, municipal corporation, landlord or other person having the right to bury underground facilities in any public street, alley, right-of-way dedicated to the public use or public utility easement, in any apartment community or mobile home park or pursuant to any express or implied private property easement. Underground facilities operator does not include a homeowner or homeowners' association that owns a sewer facility in a public street, alley, right-of-way dedicated to public use or public utility easement.

22. "Underground facility" means any item of personal property that is buried or placed below ground for use in connection with the storage or conveyance of water, sewage, electronic, telephonic or telegraphic communications, electric energy, oil, gas or other substances, and shall include but not be limited to pipes, sewers, conduits, cables, valves, lines, wires, manholes, attachments and those portions of poles and their attachments below ground except cross culverts or similar roadway drainage facilities and landscape irrigation systems of two inches in diameter or less.

23. "Working day" means every day excluding Saturday of each week, the fourth Friday in November, Sunday of each week and other legal holidays as prescribed in section 1-301.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 9 cases, 1979–2015 · leading case: Gunnell v. Arizona Pub. Serv. Co., 46 P.3d 399 (Ariz. 2002).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Gunnell v. Arizona Pub. Serv. Co., 46 P.3d 399 (Ariz. 2002). · cites it 6× “We granted review to resolve an issue of statewide importance — -whether and how the principles of comparative negligence can be applied in a case involving the Underground Facilities Act, A.R.S. §§ 40-360.21 to 40-360.32. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article VI, § 5(3) of…”

Romero v. Sw. Ambulance, 119 P.3d 467 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2005). · cites it 2× “¶ 10 In Gunnell , an excavator who was injured through both his own and the defendant utility’s negligence sought to recover damages under Arizona’s Underground Facilities Act, A.R.S. §§ 40-360.21 through 40-360.32. The trial court granted summary judgment and Division One of…”

Ry-Tan Constr., Inc. v. Washington Elementary Sch. Dist. No. 6, 93 P.3d 1095 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2004). · cites it 4× “Defendant also alleges that plaintiff violated A.R.S. § 40-360.21 by beginning demolition without blue staking.”

US Airways, Inc. v. Qwest Corp., 361 P.3d 942 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2015). · cites it 4× “¶ 32 In denying US Airways’ motion for partial summary judgment, the court held that Qwest, as the owner of the telecommunications cable, owed a duty to customers and users of the cable, including US Airways. The court relied on public policy considerations reflected in the…”

Sprint Commc'ns Co. v. W. Innovations, Inc., 618 F. Supp. 2d 1101 (D. Ariz. 2009). · cites it 5× “Nor has any party contested that another state has a more significant relationship with the parties or the occurrence.”

Bd. of Cnty. Commissioners of Garrett Cty. v. Bell Atl.-Maryland, Inc., 695 A.2d 171 (Md. 1997). “In support of its position, Bell points to a decision by the Supreme Court of Arizona which held that Ariz.Rev.Stat. Ann. §§ 40-360.21— 40-360.”

Sedona Self Realization Grp. v. Sun-Up Water Co., 598 P.2d 987 (Ariz. 1979). · cites it 2× “From a reading of these statutes, A.R.S. §§ 40-360.21 to 40-360.29, it is apparent that they were designed to provide a cause of action against those people who carelessly or negligently excavate in an easement to the damage of a utility located therein.”

Gunnell v. Arizona Pub. Serv. Co., 18 P.3d 176 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2001). · cites it 2× “) §§ 40-360.21 to 40-360.32 (1996 & Supp.1999), the Gunnells are liable for damage to APS's underground facility, APS is entitled to indemnity for damages it must pay to James Knox, and the Gunnells must pay APS's attorneys' fees incurred as a result of APS's defense of this…”

Romero v. Sw. Ambulance, rural/metro, City of Tucson (Ariz. Ct. App. 2005). · cites it 2× “¶10 In Gunnell, an excavator who was injured through both his own and the defendant utility’s negligence sought to recover damages under Arizona’s Underground Facilities Act, A.R.S. §§ 40-360.21 through 40-360.32. The trial court granted summary judgment and Division One of this…”

— Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 40-360.21(10) — 1 case

Gunnell v. Arizona Pub. Serv. Co., 46 P.3d 399 (Ariz. 2002). “We granted review to resolve an issue of statewide importance — -whether and how the principles of comparative negligence can be applied in a case involving the Underground Facilities Act, A.R.S. §§ 40-360.21 to 40-360.32. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article VI, § 5(3) of…”

— Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 40-360.21(4) — 1 case

Ry-Tan Constr., Inc. v. Washington Elementary Sch. Dist. No. 6, 93 P.3d 1095 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2004). “Defendant also alleges that plaintiff violated A.R.S. § 40-360.21 by beginning demolition without blue staking.”

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