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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.