The Cabling Advisory Group has drafted an Industry Code for Telecommunications and Cabling Enterprises to promote uniformity within the industry. Kevin Fothergill spoke with Jacob Harris to explain.

We rely on the internet, and the communications infrastructure that underpins it, for everything from alarm systems to virtual meetings. Digital technology is an integral part of our personal and business lives and this fact makes ensuring that cabling is installed according to regulations of paramount importance.

To further this goal, the Cabling Advisory Group (CAG) has created a draft Industry Code that aims to guide telecommunications and data cabling businesses in the delivery of fit-for-purpose cabling installations and quality maintenance practices. Once established, the Code will also serve as a way for reputable installers to identify themselves to customers.

The Code is essentially an updated version of an original document that was drawn up around 15 years ago under the then Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Richard Alston.

“It was a code for businesses and enterprises. It was designed so when a business signed up to the Code, the ACMA as the regulator would exempt that business from audits and inspections – unless of course there was a report of malpractice. In essence, enterprises would agree to use registered cablers and to install in accordance with standards. There was a checklist they would check off to demonstrate that they were compliant,” says TITAB Australia Secretariat Kevin Fothergill.

Obviously, our dependence on data cabling has developed significantly in the past 15 years and because of this the original Code needed to be reworked. But the process for approval of a new code is a convoluted one and involves getting the document signed off by a widespread group of industry players, before going through a committee which ensures that any suggested regulatory change or code to be introduced is not an extra impost on industry.

CAG has, however, drafted the document and circulated it around to key industry bodies and is now ready to submit the code for committee approval.

“We’ve put it to the Australian Digital Telecommunications Association (ADTIA), which is an industry association with a membership that includes all the big contractors who do large scale installations such as the NBN and they have signed off on it,” Kevin says.

“The next step is to write up a covering sheet that explains that the document has been canvassed around the industry, has been drafted by industry members over the last 18 months and is an update of an existing document. It has been modernised as far as its language goes and the notion is that it’s part of self regulation.”

Because the Industry Code for Telecommunications and Cabling Enterprises needs to operate within the self regulation framework, it needs to be something that businesses in the industry will sign up to; essentially agreeing to carry out installations in accordance with the regulations and employ staff who are properly trained and registered with the ACMA to do their cabling.

According to Kevin, companies that are doing their job properly should have no problem complying with the new Code. The most important part, he says, is to operate in accordance with technical standards, which in itself should ensure quality assurance for the customer.

“If companies deal with customers and perform installations in accordance with the standards, while using staff who are registered and trained to do the work, they should be 90% there,” says Kevin.

Keeping staff up-to-date however, is also part of the regulatory equation. There is a reasonable amount of flexibility in how employers continue to develop their staff professionally but because installers who don’t receive professional development will invariably fall behind, it is seen as a necessary part of the Code.

“The way it’s going to work in the longer term is that we are going to have a committee in the ADTIA.  They will assess the applications and once we’ve got businesses signed-up there will be a process where those businesses self accredit and if there’s any discrepancy they will have to have one of our members perform the check.

“If the attitude to self regulation changes, which it may, we will make the Code stronger. But given the current political environment, it just would not get through if it’s too tight.”

Kevin points to deregulation and a lack of cohesion as the main causes of concern within the industry.

“We’ve gone down the path of deregulation in telecommunications to an extent that I don’t think the politicians understand the problem. I’ve always had a view that politicians really should set up the enterprise monitor and shouldn’t get involved in the details.”

One example of the major problems caused by deregulation is occurring with cabling in large buildings, Kevin explains. For example, at any given time there could be up to 70 carriers servicing one building. These carriers can do their own cabling up to a certain demarcation point which means there are massive amounts of cable going up in one shaft with installers removing fire stops and the like at each floor and not putting them back properly – there’s no monitoring or supervision of the installation and cabling is often not removed when a carrier loses a contract.

“As it stands, the owner of the building is technically responsible for overseeing the installation but that owner might be living overseas and the manager of the building may be an estate agent or worse, it may be that the building is managed floor by floor by a number of different agents.
“The deregulation that’s occurred is going to have an impact one day and has caused enormous problems across the board.”

The Code seeks to counter the problems caused by deregulation by promoting client safety and network integrity while assuring cabling work is consistent with industry standards. There is a check off sheet at the back of the document that lists the various criteria for meeting the code requirements. These include: quality systems; continuing professional development; cabling work documentation; third party references and industry body affiliation.