Commentary on Sections Part 4 : Street Works Section 48: Duty to inspect records
125.Section 48 inserts section 53A (duty to inspect records) into NRSWA. That section enables the Secretary of State to create a new duty in regulations requiring an undertaker who wishes to carry out street works to inspect statutory records (for instance records of the apparatus already located in that street) before doing so. The street works to which the duty applies and the records which must be inspected are to be set out in regulations.
126.The procedure for inspecting records, and how an undertaker could prove that he had carried out an inspection, may be set out in regulations.
127.The inserted section also enables the regulations made under it to create a level 5 offence (with a maximum fine of £5,000) where an undertaker fails to comply with the requirements of the regulations.