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Shipping container PME earthing arrangement.

Damo

There are a group of shipping containers on a landfill site which has a PME supply. They have been converted into offices, a workshop and a canteen for use by a contractor carrying out groundwork’s on part of the site. There is a supply to a  3 phase distribution board in one of the containers to which the other containers are connected by plug and socket. There is a fence running alongside the containers, less than a metre away on which there are floodlights which are supplied from the same distribution board as the one supplying the container distribution board and a length of cable tray with armoured cables on it which go on to a couple of control panels mounted a few metres beyond the containers. BS 7671 prohibits PME generally for transportable buildings building with an exception where they are under the control of skilled or instructed persons. However converting to TT would mean having two earthing systems in touching distance. What is the best way to approach this?

each of the containers has a small DB in it with a Hager fuse holder as a main switch. Obviously these are not household premises, is this acceptable.

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    How practical is it to ensure the users are instructed persons ? If its the sort of place the public wander in, clearly not so easy but if there is a gate and someone has to use keys or a pass to get it, then a condition of access could be a short instruction on how the mains arrangements here are non standard, and extra vigilance for tingles, and looking for damage to external cables is required as well as a how to make safe and who to call in a dangerous situation. You only need to be as safe as a PME lamp post and there are lots of those....

    (at the other end of the spectum, some UK and EU companies send their sales and demo type employees on a day course about electrical hazards before sending them to perceived dangerous places such as Africa or the Middle East where the home wiring regs do not apply, and perhaps the local ones are not that well observed either. These courses are sold as making the attendee an electrically instructed person. For the situation you describe this is overkill unless folk will be working on the system and or fixing simple faults themselves (example syllabus here) )

    If not then the whole compound, not just the containers could be made TT and long term that is probably preferred, if rather a lot of work, as you say split systems make no sense,

    Also even with PME there is some merit in having a clear electrode per container, assuming the containers are not sitting on their skids in mud and acting as one already.

    And while it should already be, do verify if the container bodies are solidly connected to the CPC of the dis-boards within,.

    I'm sure others will respond shortly with points I have missed.

    regards Mike.

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    How practical is it to ensure the users are instructed persons ? If its the sort of place the public wander in, clearly not so easy but if there is a gate and someone has to use keys or a pass to get it, then a condition of access could be a short instruction on how the mains arrangements here are non standard, and extra vigilance for tingles, and looking for damage to external cables is required as well as a how to make safe and who to call in a dangerous situation. You only need to be as safe as a PME lamp post and there are lots of those....

    (at the other end of the spectum, some UK and EU companies send their sales and demo type employees on a day course about electrical hazards before sending them to perceived dangerous places such as Africa or the Middle East where the home wiring regs do not apply, and perhaps the local ones are not that well observed either. These courses are sold as making the attendee an electrically instructed person. For the situation you describe this is overkill unless folk will be working on the system and or fixing simple faults themselves (example syllabus here) )

    If not then the whole compound, not just the containers could be made TT and long term that is probably preferred, if rather a lot of work, as you say split systems make no sense,

    Also even with PME there is some merit in having a clear electrode per container, assuming the containers are not sitting on their skids in mud and acting as one already.

    And while it should already be, do verify if the container bodies are solidly connected to the CPC of the dis-boards within,.

    I'm sure others will respond shortly with points I have missed.

    regards Mike.

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