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B4RN Fined for Safety Failings During FTTP Broadband Rollout

Thursday, Nov 17th, 2022 (7:56 am) - Score 3,832
b4rn_outside_wall_ftth_install

Fibre optic builder and UK ISP B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North), which is rolling out a 10Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across rural parts of England, has been fined £1,400 after an inspector identified a number of safety failings with their deployment in the small Eden Valley village of Kirkoswald (Cumbria).

The provider, which is a registered Community Benefit Society that has already covered over 20,000 premises, first began deploying full fibre services to remote rural homes in Lancashire during 2012, and they’ve since expanded out across various remote rural parts of Cheshire, Cumbria, Northumberland, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk and Yorkshire – often with the help of local volunteers.

During all of that time, we’ve rarely ever seen B4RN get in real trouble for the work they’re doing, but there’s always a first time. In this case, one of Cumbria County Council’s street works inspectors identified a number of safety problems at B4RN’s deployment around Fetherston Hill in Kirkoswald.

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The inspector found that the work had blocked the pavement and reduced the road to an unacceptable width, which forced pedestrians to walk in the road and left no provision for disabled pedestrians. On top of that, there were no traffic lights or traffic signs to warn motorists, which created a “risk of collision” on a steep hill. It was later found that B4RN did not have the appropriate permit for the work either, though this was quickly resolved.

The operator pleaded guilty to the offences at Carlisle’s Rickergate Court, and it was noted that B4RN had responded swiftly when told about the problems and has committed not to repeat the mistakes again.

Michael Lee, B4RN’s CEO, said (News & Star):

“B4RN takes these incidents incredibly seriously. As soon as these incidents were raised with B4RN senior management, we launched a full root cause investigation. The results of this investigation were reviewed collaboratively with Cumbria County Council, and corrective actions were agreed and quickly implemented. We acknowledge that we are at fault, and we continue to work hard to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

B4RN was fined £1,400 for the failings, as well as a £140 victim surcharge and costs of £651. But in the long run, the ability to access affordable gigabit broadband speeds should make all of this worthwhile.

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Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and .
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15 Responses

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  1. Avatar photo M says:

    > But in the long run, the ability to access affordable gigabit broadband speeds should make all of this worthwhile

    Disruptions, sure! Safety? Absolutely not.

    Glad to see B4RN are really accepting they were in the wrong. Keep up the good work and stay safe!

    1. Avatar photo A_Builder says:

      Come on.

      My company holds street works licences. So I do have a clue.

      If I was an inspector I’d be constantly pulling VM and a couple of the others. OR are generally pretty good.

      I guess a fine was issued and they didn’t pay it hence ending up in court. The mistake a lot of people make is that those infringements automatically end up in court if you don’t pay on time.

  2. Avatar photo David says:

    That fine should be re-invested into improving broadband connectivity in the rural area where the problem occurred. But alas, the money will likely disappear into the council/government coffers never to be seen again.

    1. Avatar photo Someone says:

      A little off topic, but this is exactly what happens. Think about all the tax, the billions of £ yet our roads/infrastructure/health care is on its knees. Too much tax paying money just disappears into the hands of the corrupt elites

    2. Avatar photo reinvested says:

      me: thinks about tax.
      me: also notices council executive leader went from £120k to £150k.

      reinvested!

  3. Avatar photo Vince says:

    Chris will doubtless be here to tell us how amazing B4RN are as usual shortly?

    1. Avatar photo Matt says:

      No, ducked this one to go to the INCA awards piece instead.

      “boo BT, Go B4RN!, Altnets Rule” I’ll add the usual.

      Does make me laugh Considering B4RN has footprint of what, 2 weeks of BTs FTTP rollout? (Being generous)

      Amazing what you can do when you don’t have people in the way wanting paying for digging up the land or wanting something out of it (Farmers pre-wayleave changes)

    2. Avatar photo James Brown says:

      Well, in fairness B4RN are deploying uncontended point-point fibre. Most other providers are doing GPON and that is a big difference in service IMHO.

  4. Avatar photo Hello Chris says:

    Where is Chris Conder when you need a positive comment about B4RN?

    Chris we love you, but you may need to return that MBE 🙂

  5. Avatar photo Oggy says:

    What a Superfarce they made of that!

  6. Avatar photo Carl says:

    At least b4rn get stuff done unlike Openreach who can’t connect our fibre because they’re not allowed to go up a ladder. Instead having had to wait weeks for a scaffolding company.

    H&S gone mad.

    1. Avatar photo FibreBubble says:

      Getting stuff done is not an excuse. B4RN have been guilty of flagrant unsafe working that put the public at high risk.

      No permit, road narrowed to unsafe width, pedestrians including children forced into walking in live traffic flow, no signs out warning approaching traffic.

      It doesn’t get much more negligent than this. Shows poor management and execution.

    2. Avatar photo James Brown says:

      Fine sounds a completely unnecessary distraction, just a stern discussion between the local authority and B4rn management would be enough.

  7. Avatar photo Russell Davis says:

    If highways inspectors looked at most altnets working in the highway they would shut down 90% of their works.
    City fibre don’t have a clue what health and safety is

  8. Avatar photo chris conder says:

    Sorry for not commenting, didn’t realise I had fanboys waiting to troll me. I thought the article was acurate and didn’t need my input. And dear Matt, I never say ‘boo bt’ but I stand on the ‘Altnets rock’ posts. 😉

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