11kV equipment

You are right to be concerned.

I very much doubt the HV electrical equipment is designed to be installed such that it is accessible to ordinary persons and as such it may present intolerable risk to them.

You could start by picking up a copy of EAWR, asking to see the their electrical safety rules / policy and their risk assessment covering the activities in the (apparently) uncontrolled use of the switchroom. Persons are required to be competent to operate or work near switchgear and electrical equipment (this applies to LV also)… How does your company assess the competence of everyone able to access the equipment? What prevents Jim Bloggs from twiddling the tap selector on the transformer on-load, changing the protection settings on the RMU or leaving a box of nails in front of the arc pressure relief panel?

HSG 230 notes that it is usual to operate an authorised person scheme to demonstrate competence to access and operate equipment. HSE would expect to see this as part of company electrical safety rules if you operate HV equipment (which you do).

Furthermore use of the private substation as maintenance stores could somewhat increase the fire hazard (both ways), may increase the hazard to operators of the HV equipment and may also increase risk of electrical faults.

thanks, i think im going to pas this on up to the board

I cant argue with anything you have said

You should also think about the size and strength of the building. It is not unknown for the building to fail structurally fail during failure of switchgear or a transformer. I have know walls, doors or roofs to be displaced in the blast. 

Regards,

Alan, 

If there are 11kV switches that can  be pulled, then there is clear scope for unskilled hands to wreak havoc. In practice the risk is low, as folk with any sense will leave well alone, but it is not the way things are supposed to be done, and as you suspect, access really should be formally limited to those who know what they are doing. 

And depending exactly what, storing ‘stuff' in the space that is supposed to be left clear for a good  reason may be very unwise. High power kit has vents and arc chutes that must not be blocked.

What you describe seems a bit surprising, so further enquiries are certainly in order. 

To have a locked up room or box with no-one on site authorised to open it is not that uncommon, especially DNO transformers and similar kit, and that may have been the original intent, but the keys got left behind or the lock changed at some point.

Mike

I would hope that the switchgear and transformer had all their operating levers and handles locked to DNO standards. However, there is often nothing stopping relay case covers being removed, or metal covers protecting exposed HV metalwork being removed. 

Anyone in the room needs to be HV competent for being around switchgear, understanding that you can’t just remove a cover or two to see what happens inside. You would also need to do a risk assessment here. How much time do people spend sitting beside the switchgear? What is the quality and failure mechanism of the switchgear - is it ENA approved? Where are the expansion vents? For example, if it vents from the rear, you don‘t want people sitting behind it. 

A store may work from a risk assessment point of view, a permanent office may not. 

Regards,

Alan. 

When I started in the industry, it was normal to operate plant by hand, after a quick visual inspection. Today, in this risk averse world, it is the last option. We would rather operate plant either electrically, or via a lanyard temporarily installed by the person operating it. 

Regards,

Alan.