[25381] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Fiber cuts, telcos and excavators
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Hal Murray)
Thu Oct 7 01:29:58 1999
Message-Id: <199910070519.WAA31240@quatre.pa.dec.com>
To: Sean Donelan <sean@donelan.com>
Cc: nanog@merit.edu
In-Reply-To: Message of 6 Oct 1999 21:40:27 -0700
from Sean Donelan <sean@donelan.com>
<19991007044027.13140.cpmta@c004.sfo.cp.net>
Date: Wed, 06 Oct 1999 22:19:20 -0700
From: Hal Murray <murray@pa.dec.com>
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
> I have heard from the excavator community over the years. They often
> point out the utilities seem to not care, and don't show up to mark
> their utilities on-time. The famous telco appointment time of
> between 8 and 5, if at all. The excavator is losing money for every
> minute the locate marker is late, or doesn't show up at all. This
> isn't a lot of profit margin in excavation. Sometimes the choice is
> between not digging and definitely going out of business, or digging
> and possibly going out of business.
Why is the contractor waiting around?
I'm not very familiar with how things are done in the construction
industry, but I see a lot of paint on roads and sidewalks around
here. I've seen occasional people out putting down paint without
any contractors waiting around.
I thought the standard practice was to mark the limits of the area
you want to dig in with "USA" (Underground Service Alert) and then
call the USA 800 number a few days before you want to dig there.
That gives the USA people time to contact all the utilities so they
can come out and mark the area.
I should read the fine print on a call-before-you-dig sign the next
time I get a chance.
> As far as sending a big bill to the contractor. As has been pointed
> out before, most excavators have the minimum insurance and few assets.
> And the cynic may look at the number of contractors hired by utilities
Does it work to sue the organization that hired the contractor?
If not, why?
