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Dial Before You Dig: 30 days notice is not required
Posted by
The Earthmover & Civil Contractor
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Aug 26, 2010 09:55 AM
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| 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.” |
NSW DBYD manager Dominic Puiu has been in touch since and says that while that is the regulation, earthmovers will not be prosecuted if they do not follow that directive.
He says contractors and others will be able to start work as soon as they have relevant plans of underground assets from DBYD. However the overall body, the Australian Association of Dial Before You Dig Services Ltd, has decreed that faxes be phased out for delivering plans and that will stand despite Puiu’s objections.
Correspondent Richard Belfield determined that at least 30 Allied Earthmovers (formerly Golden Buckets) members listed in its largely Sydney member guide, did not have computers for emails, the preferred method of delivery now. However Puiu is developing an Apple iPhone plan delivery application for people owning those devices.
There could be some problems with the telephone contact number too. Here at Earthmover we tried to dial 1100, the DBYD contact telephone number, but without success. When we eventually contacted DBYD at Essendon Airport in Melbourne via a billable number, the word was if there was a problem, it would not affect many people or telephones.
We used voice over internet protocol (VOIP) telephones and the answer is probably to avoid using them to make such a call.
