Entered into force on 1 July 2012, the regulation of the declarations of work and the Declaration of intent to start work celebrated its five years since last July.
This is an opportunity to return to this tool that is not known by the public but indispensable since its entry to prevent the damage of the networks.
The Teleservice Cartographic tool’s implementation allows localization of existing infrastructures. It is necessary to master the development of roads and any building project near air, underground or underwater networks. The use of a declaration of work and Declaration of intention to begin work is mainly on the public domain or on private property. It is therefore possible to monitor the traceability of networks built, by operators or by the communities themselves to share them with other local communities on the one hand and to update them when changes occur.
Since its entry, a significant decrease in incidents and accidents related to the proximity of the networks has been observed. According to Jean Boesch, responsible for the safety of risk equipment and networks in the environment ministries. The annual number of leaking catches on so-called sensitive networks, i.e. transporting gas, and hazardous materials has decreased by 30% since 2012 and by more than 50% since 2007. In about ten years, the number of damage has increased from 6000 to less than 3000 per year. At the beginning of the year 2017 another reform was put in place, obliging the project’s supervisors, site supervisors, and conductors of the work to have a certificate of authorization for interventions near the networks (Atip).
As of January 2019, networks will be classified by categories. New networks, existing ones and all those susceptible to category A can be detected. The location will be reduced to an uncertainty not exceeding 50 cm instead of a maximum uncertainty of 1.5 m in a class B currently. Then, an obligation of plan funds and geo-referenced plots for sensitive networks buried in urban units. For networks located outside urban areas, the deadline shall be 1 January 2026.
