Explosive ordnance assessment for fibre routes and network rollout

The technical assessment should take place as soon as the route corridor, installation methods and planned ground interventions are sufficiently described. Historical indications can initially be assessed for early route options. Before construction, open trenches, milled slots, crossings, chambers and network nodes must be considered with their respective depths and survey feasibility.

Although microtrenching has a narrow intervention width, a reliable assessment is needed for the full milling depth and actual planned alignment. The surface, existing utilities and technical interference sources can affect survey feasibility. The suitable approach is therefore derived from ground conditions, suspected hazards and the required confidence of the assessment.

If an unexpected suspicious object is found, stop work. Do not touch, move or uncover it further. Leave the immediate area and warn others without putting yourself at risk. In Germany, notify the police on 110; outside Germany, use the local emergency reporting procedure. The competent authorities determine what happens next; a project enquiry does not replace reporting the find.

Route plans should be as up to date as possible and show chainage, standard cross-sections, construction depths, crossings, chambers, distribution cabinets and rollout clusters. Utility and existing asset plans, historical assessments, authority correspondence, ground investigation data, installation methods, traffic phases and the desired handover date are helpful.

Information and requirements from authorities are supplied with their date, complete appendices and geographical scope. In Germany, the competent ordnance disposal service, local public-order authority and, where relevant, building-control authority are identified for the project location; outside Germany, local responsibilities apply.

Sections are assigned a consistent system of chainage, contract section references and identifiers. Survey lines, borehole locations, daily work sections, limitations and outstanding measures refer to the same design revision. This allows network operators and site management to update work status consistently across several crews and contractors.

Suitable supplementary measures are defined for areas not adequately surveyed in advance. Where explosive ordnance surveying during construction is technically suitable, each working layer is technically surveyed and assessed before controlled removal with supplementary visual inspection. These steps are repeated down to the agreed excavation base. Excavation conditions, layers, hold points, reporting lines and documentation are defined before work begins. Necessary surveys and protective measures are also planned before ground intervention during surface breaking or dismantling; areas not covered remain outstanding.

In Germany, state explosive ordnance disposal services and the locally responsible authorities carry out hazard prevention and find-handling duties. Outside Germany, local responsibilities apply. The privately commissioned specialist contractor carries out the agreed survey and documentation. Reporting procedures and contacts are clarified for each section before earthworks begin.

Factors include route length, number of rollout clusters, surfaces, existing utilities and interference, construction depths, crossings, deep intervention points, accessibility, construction windows, data formats and documentation scope. Reliable costing therefore needs current alignments, installation methods and clear boundaries for the sections actually to be addressed.