There is a great deal of uncertainty as to the levels of stability of slope components of the European margin, other than localised detailed surveys completed using a combination of side-scan sonar and swathe bathymetry in recent years. These surveys have revealed that the factors which control the locations of areas of potential slope failure are complex and manifold. Clearly slope gradients, sediment supply, physical oceanographic conditions and sediment type all have major roles to play, but their interaction is far from well understood. One of the problems to be addressed is the lack of a comprehensive and focussed data synthesis with which to derive and test models of slope behaviour. A promising way in which this shortfall could be rectified would be to combine selected parts of the extensive survey database acquired by the telecommunications industry in its search for suitable pathways in which to lay earlier copper-core and now, more recently, fibre-optic cable systems. These data would be interpreted in conjunction with a rigorous analysis of the industry's historical cable-fault database which provides parameters of naturally occuring cable failures (through sediment failure, for example). Together these data will provide an understanding of the geological characteristics of key parts of the European shelf, underpinned with the statistics of active slope processes over the most recent decades. The benefits of such a synthesis to both the telecommunications and hydrocarbon industries cannot be overstated.