A good question. I have been thinking about this for quite some time. Legislation? Go through the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, The Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2001 - draft available on DTI website and also (of course) the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974. Provided you comply with all of these, you are generally OK to do as you please but these documents can be very vague in many places.
Most operators of 'HV' apparatus tend to have very good safe systems of work in place and their design and planning philosophies have been developed over many years. This is especially so for utilities but not normally as solid in private consumer networks. You are right about rules-of-thumb playing a large part. The distribution safety rules should also stipulate that measures should be taken to prevent unauthorised access to 'HV' apparatus.
If you are trying to argue a case to your directors (as I have often tried) then use Regulation 4 of the Electricity at Work Regulations as a starting point - "ALL systems shall be designed as far as is practicable in order to prevent DANGER". Take it from there.
A good question. I have been thinking about this for quite some time. Legislation? Go through the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, The Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2001 - draft available on DTI website and also (of course) the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974. Provided you comply with all of these, you are generally OK to do as you please but these documents can be very vague in many places.
Most operators of 'HV' apparatus tend to have very good safe systems of work in place and their design and planning philosophies have been developed over many years. This is especially so for utilities but not normally as solid in private consumer networks. You are right about rules-of-thumb playing a large part. The distribution safety rules should also stipulate that measures should be taken to prevent unauthorised access to 'HV' apparatus.
If you are trying to argue a case to your directors (as I have often tried) then use Regulation 4 of the Electricity at Work Regulations as a starting point - "ALL systems shall be designed as far as is practicable in order to prevent DANGER". Take it from there.
