Whilst the literature makes clear that about 30% of such faults might in some way be attributable to ‘third party damage’, the majority of cable faults (including many those in the third-party damage camp) will not occur without some form of ‘observable’ prior warning signs. Were suitable and appropriate inspections to be done at initial installation, commissioning, and periodically during the cable life, then Industry stress levels would be greatly reduced. Missing out any of these inspection processes will almost certainly result in cable faults and failures appearing at apparently random times and almost certainly demanding an urgent response.
