Enforcement

Enforcement

Pennsylvania Act 287 of 1974 as amended by Act 50 of 2017, 73 P. S. § 176 et. seq., contains provisions for each stakeholder regarding the reporting of alleged violations. The report should be submitted to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission through the One Call System pursuant to the time frame set forth in Act 50 of 2017.

Excavators, designers, project owners, and facility owners shall submit an alleged violation report to the commission through the One Call System for instances when a person by action or inaction fails to fulfill the obligation of Act 50 of 2017. The report of an alleged violation shall be in a form and manner as required by the commission.

  • Facility Owner - Submit a report of alleged violation not more than thirty business days after receipt of notice that the facility owner's lines have been damaged by excavation or demolition work or if the facility owner believes a violation of the act has been committed in association with excavation or demolition work 
    • No report may be required where the cost to repair the damage to the facility owner's lines is less than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), unless the same person damaged the facility owner's lines two or more times within a six-month period
  • Designer - Submit a report of alleged violation not more than thirty business days from the time the designer becomes aware that a violation of this act may have been committed in association with excavation or demolition work
  • Excavator - Submit a report of an alleged violation not more than ten business days after striking or damaging a facility owner's line during excavation or demolition or if the excavator believes a violation of this act has been committed in association with excavation or demolition work 

  • Project Owner - Submit a report of alleged violation not more than ten business days after striking or damaging a facility owner's line during excavation or demolition work activities, after a project owner's contracted excavator strikes or damages a facility owner's line during excavation or demolition activities or if the project owner believes a violation of this act has been committed in association with excavation or demolition

How to file an Alleged Violation Report (AVR)

Report an Alleged Violation

Alleged Violation Report (AVR) Guidelines

Alleged violation means an instance when a person by action or inaction fails to fulfill their obligations as defined in PA Act 287 of 1974, as amended by Act 50 of 2017.

Yes. Excavators, designers, project owners and facility owners must submit an alleged violation report (AVR) to the Public Utility Commission (PUC) through the PA One Call System (POCS).

An AVR should be reported for instances when a person or company by action or inaction fails to fulfill their obligations of the Act. 

No. You should review the amount of time you have to submit an AVR based on your role (project owner, designer, excavator, facility owner). Once you have collected all of the pertinent information, you can complete the AVR process before the deadline date. 

Yes. If the alleged violations are related to the same incident, you can enter more than one on the same report. 

On the report, use the "add link" feature to select additional violations.

Project owners and excavators: Not more than ten (10) business days

Facility owners and designers: Not more than thirty (30) business days

There are several steps you should research before submitting your AVR.
  1. Take the time to learn about the Underground Utility Line Protection Law (UULP) and how the law is enforced
  2. Determine how a person or company by action or inaction failed to fulfill their obligations under the law
  3. Take pictures, shoot videos and create diagrams to support your claim
  4. Create an account on the PA One Call website to submit your AVR

The AVR's are recorded and the information is provided to the Public Utility Commission (PUC), who will:
  • Investigate the alleged violations under their enforcement authority in the act
  • Meet and review the alleged violations with a Damage Prevention Committee, whose members are industry representatives and appointed by the PUC
  • Communicate warnings or other actions, and/or penalties under this act and the PUC orders and regulations
The AVR damage or near-miss data may anonymously be provided to:
  • The Common Ground Alliance (CGA) Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT)
    • May be used for a U.S. damage data summary and analysis report
    • The report is published in the CGA's Annual DIRT Report
  • The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Association (PEMA)
    • May analyze the data to develop better response methods concerning underground line damages and incidents where lives and property are in jeodardy