# Damage prevention

**Citation:** RCSA § 16-280b-B23  
**Type / status:** regulation / current  
**Agency:** Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority  
**Effective:** 2025-06-11  
**Published:** 2025-06-11

(a) For purposes of this section: (1) "Excavation Ticket" means a notification provided by an excavator to the central clearinghouse, as defined in section 16-345(4) of the Connecticut General Statutes. (2) "Markout" means the process of marking the approximate location of an underground facility on the surface with pa

## Document text

(a) For purposes of this section: (1) "Excavation Ticket" means a notification provided by an excavator to the central clearinghouse, as defined in section 16-345(4) of the Connecticut General Statutes. (2) "Markout" means the process of marking the approximate location of an underground facility on the surface with paint, flags or stakes pursuant to section 16-345-5 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies. (b) The actions required by section 16-345-3(b) of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies shall not be performed by contractors. (c) Each Operator shall define the limits of blasting near such Operator's Pipeline Facilities including: (1) setting limits on the peak particle velocity based on Pipe material, Pipe size and geologic conditions; (2) requiring monitoring of peak particle velocity utilizing appropriate equipment to ensure that the maximum peak particle velocity is not exceeded; and (3) conducting a leakage survey at the end of each blasting sequence for a distance considered adequate to ensure the integrity of the Pipeline Facilities. (d) Each Operator shall have a program to inspect excavation activities in the vicinity of such Operator's Pipeline Facilities that includes: (1) for each calendar year, performing a number of inspections at least equal to 2.5 percent of the previous calendar year's number of Excavation Tickets received; (2) not more than 25 percent of the inspections on excavations performed by the Operator or by contractors working for the Operator; (3) inspections only being conducted by individuals other than those who performed the Markout; and (4) the risk-based selection of inspections, considering the type and duration of excavation activity, the proximity to Pipeline Facilities, the proximity to critical facilities, and the past experience with the excavator.

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://eregulations.ct.gov/eRegsPortal/Search/getDocument?guid=%7BE04F6097-0000-CC1C-9D68-25A0BA411C82%7D>
- Source ID: `ct-sots-rcsa-16-280b`
- SHA-256: `ee57bef1628f263c5768e3b57ac3192181003f3ca7df1a663453e952bf440f9c`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-12T07:07:58.041Z
- Exported: 2026-08-22T07:42:34.569Z
- Document slug: `ct-rcsa-16-280b-b23`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "jurisdiction": "US-CT",
  "subtitle": "16-280b",
  "series": "B",
  "sectionNumber": 23,
  "secretaryFileNumber": 6446,
  "trackingNumber": "PR2023-019",
  "effectiveDateEvidence": "Secretary of the State confirmation states that the regulation became effective June 11, 2025.",
  "scopeCaveat": "This corpus contains all 117 dedicated pipeline-safety sections newly codified as RCSA 16-280b-A1 through A75, B1 through B32, and C1 through C10 by Connecticut Secretary of the State File Number 6446. The filing also amends four adjacent legacy utility provisions and repeals eleven obsolete 16-11 provisions; those actions are retained as provenance and inventory rather than mixed into the dedicated searchable corpus.",
  "applicabilityCaveat": "Applicability varies by natural-gas or petroleum-gas operator, public-service-company status, pipeline facility, master-meter or petroleum-gas distribution system, activity, waiver, and federal jurisdiction. PURA states that Connecticut has no intrastate transmission or gathering lines and that hazardous-liquid pipelines remain under PHMSA jurisdiction.",
  "incorporationCaveat": "The rules supplement and repeatedly incorporate federal pipeline requirements, generally as amended from time to time, and rely on Connecticut statutes and external standards. References are recorded without reproducing incorporated material or deciding federal preemption or facility-specific legal effect.",
  "publicationCaveat": "The authenticated final filing was posted to the Connecticut eRegulations System and became effective June 11, 2025. It is used instead of the older browse pages, some of which still display pre-2025 text and stale update labels.",
  "rights": "Official Connecticut legal and agency materials are retained with attribution and cryptographic provenance. State marks, site presentation, forms, annotations, and incorporated federal or privately authored material require separate review.",
  "rightsReviewRequired": true,
  "region": "CT"
}
```