"Routine testing" could well mean "our most junior technician was told to clean up the mess of cables, and one fell out." I'm sure that's happened to everyone here....
I do not know what happened inside Worldcom. However, when human error is identified as the cause, always ask yourself did the human have a chance? Often it seems like the junior technician is made the scapegoat for inadequate supervision, equipment or training. ATIS and NRIC have identified "procedural errors" as an area of increasing concern for the reliability of the telecommunications network. Through the mandatory FCC reporting mechanism, ATIS and NRIC have identified common errors and recommended changes across carriers. You can read their recommendations at http://www.atis.org/atis/nrsc/nrschome.htm Well, you could, if the links on ATIS' web site actually worked. ATIS has no legal authority, and neither Worldcom nor any other carrier has to follow (or even read) its recommendations. But Internet Service Providers should be aware of the Lessons Learned (the hard way) in other industries.