Look up, stay alive, ladder incident

[James Salisbury]

There has been an unfortunate incident in Wales with an aluminum ladder and an 11Kv overhead supply...

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

"Bridgend MP Madeline Moon expressed concern that the cables across the field were difficult to see. She said: "I was very shocked to see how low they are".

[The Natural Philosopher]

haha. Pity she didn't run into them then..

[Tim Lamb]

I am waiting for a fisherman, using a carbon fibre rod, to fry himself where our overheads cross the river. I suppose it made sense to the erectors, way back in the middle of the last century, to keep their lattice pylons well away from a floodable river bank. Split cane rods, the last word in technology then:-)

Yes, there are warning notices and yes, the bank is fenced to discourage access but....

Curiously, I have just received notification that Lamva Ltd. have been instructed to contact landowners along the route to discuss access for inspection and minor works. I suspect this may involve the replacement of the lattice towers with poles.

regards

[Bookworm]

What should this politician be thinking of 'before she opened her gob'?

WTF is wrong with a politician speaking her/his mind.

[Owain]

It's an excellent argument for undergrounding all such cables though.

We can put them up on poles again when an MP's son on work experience digs through them with a JCB.

Owain

[gort]

You end up with stupid rules like Part P because they rarely understand anything they are ranting about.

Dave

[gort]

Talk to John Prescot, he has time on his hands, Part Z anyone ?

Dave

[John Rumm]

Sometimes it highlights how little there is in there....

[DMac]

think the use of the word "shocked" is rather inappropriate given the likely cause of the men's death.

[robgraham]

Whereas it might be justifiable in an open field situation for cables carrying power to be only 5.2m above the ground, it does seem astonishing that there are cables carrying that voltage near a house and as low as that. A 6m ladder is a really nothing for most house maintenance - I'm single story and I need that size of ladder to do my chimney. I've just been round to look at it and the overhead 240V supply - that is on a pole approaching 10m - well above normal ladder height thank god.

I know we're in the nanny state, but with the ease of use and the low cost of aluminium ladders now, it does sound as if the regulations need changing and restrospective action taken to take 11Kv particulary away from such easy contact.

Rob

[nightjar]

We would more probably end up with a ban on aluminium ladders and a requirement to use glass fibre ones instead.

Colin Bignell

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Not necessarily,they could cover the last two rung section in rubber.

[dom]

Cables below 6m are commonplace, particularly in rural areas. The cables outside my current house are 4.8-5.4m above ground (3 phase/4wires 415V), and 2.5 from the building. My gutter height is

5.4m. I'm intensely careful when moving my 4m, 2-section ladders.

Outside my old house I had 11KV lines crossing my garden, again I was intensely careful. I don't expect Transco to come round and extend every pole in the country to protect me from a readily visible hazard, and one which I was warned about in the leaflet that came with the ladders. And either you're a diy'er and shoudl be aware of the hazards around your own property - or a professional who should have appropriate training/skills.

This isn't a newly invented hazard, and the death rate is very low (compared to say road accidents). If we included protection for fisherman, we would probably have to have considerably higher poles (or the considerablly greater cost/disruption of underground lines).

In fact if we start down this route, we'd also be looking at overhead power (and third rail) for railways/undergrounds/trams. Some hazards have to be understood and accepted.

No I don't think we need new regulation or retrospective action.

[Steve Walker]

children might be playing etc.

[gort]

I don't expect Transco to come round and extend

You have gas up the poles as well...........!!!

Dave

[dom]

I figured they could dig a trench under every overhead cable in the country and it would acheive the same thing (or possibly the Alzheimers struck a little earlier than usual yesterday).

[The Natural Philosopher]

I can assure you they would if they could afford to.

When I had the 11kv line that ran over my HOUSE (single storey extension) undergrounded, it cost a bomb..30 grand for 600 meters. Of which I had to pay 20...but the guys I spoke to said that their policy was to underground as fast as they could afford to, because overhead lines get struck by branches and lightning.

I might say that the farmer was delighted, because although he lost a hundred quid a year payment for a pole in his field, he didn't have to plough ROUND it. The electricity company was happy, because they had got more underground per unit budget than they expected..and I was delighted, because I could build a 2 storey extension, and not have a nasty pole and buzzing wires in my garden..

[Bill]

In message , The Natural Philosopher writes

A friend of mine wanted a couple of overheads putting underground as they ran along 2 sides of his property and got in the way of his helicopter !!!!!!. Any way the out come was that the local board gave him the spec for the trench which he dug and then they ran the cables. As far as I know his only cost was the digging of the trench.

Secondly even underground cables are not immune from problems even when correctly buried. I was working on a golf course some years ago when there was a rather loud bang followed by silence. The bang was from a LARGE marquee spike, 3-4 foot long, going through a nKV cable. Even though it had been buried at the required depth, 2m?? The golf course had been re-landscaped since and the cable was now only a couple of feet down. The guy with the sledge hammer survived, I wonder what they did to get over the depth problem? I've not been back there since.

[The Natural Philosopher]

That is generally the major cost, that, and getting the various permissions to do it, especially along road verges etc etc.

It may take several man days to get the right permissions to dig a kilometer stretch..that only takes a few hundred to dig...

Great story. Yup...one tries to be aware of underground cables but...