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Editors Blog
Dial Before You Dig: 30 days notice is not required
Our lead item for the Newswire last week, created some concern with readers judging by your reactions. It revealed that News South Wales legislation that came into force on July 1, required practically anyone doing serious excavations including farmers digging postholes, to make a request to Dial Before You Dig about underground services likely to be encountered, “not earlier than 30 days before the work commenced.”
Pump failures go to court uncontested
Recently a friend who makes, markets and instals water desalination plants, usually on bores, took an internationally renowned pump manufacturer to court.
The issue was that its submersible pumps more often that not failed in these applications. In fact my friend was out of pocket to the tune of about $100,000.
Despite frequent approaches, the pump company failed to recompense him and his small company for its losses, when the pumps had to be replaced.
Eventually the case ended up in the Melbourne Magistrates Court. Surprisingly though, the pump company did not defend the case. It seemed it did not even despatch an observer.
So the magistrate, after viewing comprehensive documentation from my friend and particularly his wife about the failed pumps, announced that it was an open and shut case and awarded $100,000 in damages.
As of the end of last month the pump company had not paid the damages. It had until August 5 to do so or it was liable to be deregistered as a company under the magistrate’s order.
Given the litigiousness of the construction industry and the fact this case was undefended almost defies belief. How often does this happen? Maybe the evidence was so overwhelming the pump company eventually decided the case was not worth the cost of a barrister. It is a wonder they let it go to court without settling beforehand though.
My friend no longer of course uses this company’s submersible pumps in the bores he taps for desalination plants. However in the desalination plants themselves, he plans to continue using a different style of pump, the same company makes.
Some lessons in employee appreciation
Towards the end of June I spent a few days promoting the magazine at Primex, an agricultural and civil contracting show at Casino, on the NSW north coast. As always at such an event, you meet an interesting cross section of readers and potentially new readers and hear their stories.
Reflections on a weekend in a Malaysian quarry
I had the pleasure of joining in Kuala Lumpur last weekend, about 300 Sandvik distributors and customers, from what the company calls Western Asia. Roughly that takes in nearly everything from Israel to China, including Australia and New Zealand.
Water a major issue in SA elections
I was delighted to hear Colin Pitman interviewed by Tony Eastley, as the lead item on ABC’s AM on Tuesday, about his work in detoxifying considerable quantities of stormwater being fed into Adelaide’s industrial water supply.
