Ohio Rev. Code » Chapter 3781
Ohio Revised Code

Ohio Rev. Code § 3781.28 (2026)

Excavator notifying protection service or pipeline owner

✓ laws through the 2026 session (checked Sept. 2026)
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section ORCcodes.ohio.gov (official) Justiaon Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar
Effective:
June 9, 2026
Latest Legislation:
House Bill 227 - 136th General Assembly
PDF:
Download Authenticated PDF
 

(A) Except as otherwise provided in divisions (C), (D), (E), and (F) of this section, at least two working days, not including the day of the notification, but not more than sixteen calendar days before commencing excavation, the excavator shall notify the protection service of the location of the excavation site and the date on which excavation is planned to commence.

(B) On receipt of notice under division (A) of this section, the protection service shall provide to each utility with underground utility facilities located at the excavation site, notice of the proposed excavation.

(C) In the case of an interstate hazardous liquids pipeline or interstate gas pipeline, the excavator shall comply with the special notice requirements of the public safety program of the owner of the pipeline as indicated in the plans or otherwise provided to the excavator in accordance with division (E) or (F)(2) of section 3781.27 of the Revised Code.

(D) If it has been determined pursuant to division (D) of section 3781.27 of the Revised Code that relocation, support, removal, or protective steps are necessary, the excavator shall provide earlier notice to the utility in order to provide the utility with reasonable time to coordinate making the adjustments with actual excavation.

(E) If an excavation will cover a large area and will progress from one area to the next over a period of time, the excavator shall provide written notice of excavation with projected timelines for segments of the excavation as the excavation progresses in order to coordinate the marking of underground utility facilities with actual excavation schedules. Under such circumstances, the utility and excavator shall determine a mutually agreed upon marking schedule based on the project schedule. Once such a schedule is established, the marking and notification requirements set forth in division (A)(1) of section 3781.29 of the Revised Code shall not apply.

(F)(1) In the case of a utility that is making an emergency repair to its own underground utility system or a governmental entity making an underground emergency repair to traffic control devices, as defined in section 4511.01 of the Revised Code, used on any street or highway under the entity's jurisdiction, the utility or governmental entity shall notify a protection service of the excavation site. This notice need not occur before commencing excavation.

(2) In the case of an excavation at the site of real property of the type described in divisions (C)(1) to (4) of section 3781.25 of the Revised Code:

(a) If the owner of the property is the excavator, this section does not apply unless the excavation is planned for an area where a utility easement is located, a public right-of-way, or where utility facilities are known to serve the property.

(b) If the owner of the property employs an excavator, the excavator shall comply with the requirements of this section. If the owner did not employ a designer to make written plans, the excavator shall provide the notice required under this section to a protection service.

Last updated March 26, 2026 at 11:50 AM

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 9 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1995–2023 · leading case: Cincinnati Bell Tel. Co. v. J.K. Meurer Corp., 2022-Ohio-540, 185 N.E.3d 632.
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Cincinnati Bell Tel. Co. v. J.K. Meurer Corp., 2022-Ohio-540, 185 N.E.3d 632. · cites it 10× “The trial court concluded that “R.C. 3781.28 obligated [J.K. Meurer] to contact OUPS before excavating” and JK Meurer breached that duty when it failed to contact OUPS.”
Boyd v. Moore, 919 N.E.2d 283 (Ohio Ct. App. 2d Dist. 2009). · cites it 11× “Boyd contends that Heizer is liable for negligence per se because he violated R.C. 3781.28(A) by failing to notify the Ohio Utilities Protection Service (“OUPS”) before he began digging.”
Ne. Ohio Nat. Gas Corp. v. Stout Excavating, Inc., 804 N.E.2d 1040 (Ohio Ct. App. 9th Dist. 2004). · cites it 2× “Gas transmission and distribution lines are to be marked with “[sjafety yellow.”
Ohio Edison Co. v. Wartko Constr., 658 N.E.2d 1118 (Ohio Ct. App. 11th Dist. 1995). · cites it 2× “R.C. 3781.28(B) imposed a specific duty upon appellee to notify appellant of the excavation “at least forty-eight hours but not more than ten days before commencing excavation.”
Ohio Bell Tel. Co. v. Cleveland, 2013-Ohio-270. “An excavator has a duty under R.C. 3781.28 to notify the OUPS about proposed excavations.”
DeBarr v. Cleveland, 2023-Ohio-4121, 228 N.E.3d 1226. · cites it 2× “” R.C. 3781.28(F). Even if this were not the case, R.”
Chang v. Time Warner Cable, 2019-Ohio-3465. “Once a contractor notifies OUPS, it fulfills its duty to inform itself of the location of the underground utility facilities, pursuant to R.C. 3781.28(A) and Ohio Edison Co. v. Wartko Constr.”
Vectren Energy Delivery of Ohio, Inc. v. Huber, 2013-Ohio-4069. · cites it 2× “The provision in former R.C. 3781.28(A) 2 requires that at least 48 hours but not more than 10 days before excavating an excavator notify the Ohio Utilities Protection Service (“OUPS”) of the location of the excavation site and the date on which excavation will begin.”
Vectren Energy Deliver of Oh., Inc. v. Bansal Constr., Inc., 2018-Ohio-2861. “R.C. 3781.28(A). In response to such notice, each utility must locate and mark its underground utilities facilities within 48 hours; the failure to do so is deemed to be notice that no facilities are in the area.”
Ohio Rev. Code § 3781.28(A): 6 cases
Boyd v. Moore, 919 N.E.2d 283 (Ohio Ct. App. 2d Dist. 2009). “Boyd contends that Heizer is liable for negligence per se because he violated R.C. 3781.28(A) by failing to notify the Ohio Utilities Protection Service (“OUPS”) before he began digging.”
Cincinnati Bell Tel. Co. v. J.K. Meurer Corp., 2022-Ohio-540, 185 N.E.3d 632. “The trial court concluded that “R.C. 3781.28 obligated [J.K. Meurer] to contact OUPS before excavating” and JK Meurer breached that duty when it failed to contact OUPS.”
Ne. Ohio Nat. Gas Corp. v. Stout Excavating, Inc., 804 N.E.2d 1040 (Ohio Ct. App. 9th Dist. 2004). “Gas transmission and distribution lines are to be marked with “[sjafety yellow.”
Chang v. Time Warner Cable, 2019-Ohio-3465. “Once a contractor notifies OUPS, it fulfills its duty to inform itself of the location of the underground utility facilities, pursuant to R.C. 3781.28(A) and Ohio Edison Co. v. Wartko Constr.”
Vectren Energy Delivery of Ohio, Inc. v. Huber, 2013-Ohio-4069. “The provision in former R.C. 3781.28(A) 2 requires that at least 48 hours but not more than 10 days before excavating an excavator notify the Ohio Utilities Protection Service (“OUPS”) of the location of the excavation site and the date on which excavation will begin.”
Ohio Rev. Code § 3781.28(B): 2 cases
Ohio Edison Co. v. Wartko Constr., 658 N.E.2d 1118 (Ohio Ct. App. 11th Dist. 1995). “R.C. 3781.28(B) imposed a specific duty upon appellee to notify appellant of the excavation “at least forty-eight hours but not more than ten days before commencing excavation.”
Vectren Energy Delivery of Ohio, Inc. v. Huber, 2013-Ohio-4069. “The provision in former R.C. 3781.28(A) 2 requires that at least 48 hours but not more than 10 days before excavating an excavator notify the Ohio Utilities Protection Service (“OUPS”) of the location of the excavation site and the date on which excavation will begin.”
Ohio Rev. Code § 3781.28(E): 1 case
Ne. Ohio Nat. Gas Corp. v. Stout Excavating, Inc., 804 N.E.2d 1040 (Ohio Ct. App. 9th Dist. 2004). “Gas transmission and distribution lines are to be marked with “[sjafety yellow.”
Ohio Rev. Code § 3781.28(F): 1 case
DeBarr v. Cleveland, 2023-Ohio-4121, 228 N.E.3d 1226. “” R.C. 3781.28(F). Even if this were not the case, R.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.