Telecommunications

Equipment can strike underground utilities, including gas lines, water and sewage pipes, and unknown hazards beneath the surface, such as abandoned storage tanks and septic tanks. An accidental puncture and release of fuels, chemicals, toxic gases, or sewage can contaminate soil and groundwater and release hazardous air emissions, resulting in cleanup costs, bodily injury, and third-party property damage claims.

Excavations, directional boring, and other subsurface intrusion can disturb the soil and possibly penetrate an aquifer. Subsurface work can create pathways for contaminants in the soil to migrate off-site or contaminate groundwater or surface water.

Contractors may provide design services or input on a design that can result in professional liability. Design services may include performing in-house design, hiring design firms as subcontractors or through a joint venture, or providing professional opinions on design aspects. Errors and omissions can delay time, overrun budgets, and result in rework.

Telecommunications contractors can be involved in preconstruction planning and provide input on materials selection, scheduling, and costs. They may also modify design specifications while at the jobsite. Malfunctions arising from these inputs/changes create a direct professional responsibility for the contractor.

If contractors are responsible for vegetation management, leaks, spills, misuse, or over-application of herbicides and pesticides can contaminate soil and water sources. Applications made before heavy rains or on saturated soils can also contribute to contaminated stormwater run-off.

Backfilling could damage underground pipes and result in perforations that can release contaminants. When refilling a utility trench, rocks in the backfill or pipe placement on jagged edges can damage the line.

Heavy equipment and portable refueling tanks may be brought to and stay on the jobsite during excavation and grading work. Accidental spills or leaks of fuels, lubricants, oils, and chemicals or vandalism can discharge pollutants into the environment and require cleanup.

During excavation and grading, unknown pre-existing contaminated soil could be collected and spread to clean areas of a site or create environmental liability in the transportation and disposal of the contaminated soil.

Silt and sediment are fine-grained soil particles that can migrate in run-off due to a rain event, accidental water pipe break, or excessive watering for dust suppression. During construction activities for telecommunication trenches, bare ground and exposed earth is vulnerable to erosion by wind and water. Inadequate erosion controls can lead to surface run-off of these soil particles, impairing the proper functioning of stormwater drainage systems, causing ecological damage to streams and rivers, and causing adjacent property damage. Control of silts/sediments is required under the Clean Water Act. Contractors may face regulatory action such as cleanup orders, fines, and penalties from federal, state, or local regulators.