dangerous electrical cabling in the ground

simonx

There are electric gates to the private road where we live, today somebody put a spade through the cables whilst gardening and received an electric shock, they're fine. The cables are at most 50mm under the soil and not in any sort of protective sheath, this is dangerous and must contravene the relevant standards.

Should we contact our local trading standards?

knightstyle

How long have the gates been there?
First contact the owners and get them to make safe. The cable should be protected against mechanical damage so normally is SWA, Steel Wired Armoured.
Regs change but underground cables recommended depth is 500mm however this is not always possible so "Buried cables, conduits and ducts shall be at sufficient depth to avoid being damaged by any reasonably foreseeable disturbances to the ground."

[Deleted User]

simonx wrote: »

Should we contact our local trading standards?

No, but it might be wise to contact the firm who installed the cabling!

The firm employing the guy who caused the damage with the spade might be another relevant port of call.

simonx

it is a private road, I think the gates have been there about 5 yrs, from what I know the the guy who installed them is probably a one-man operation, in my time here they have been very problematic.
A neighbour is trying to contact him, but this seems such a dangerous installation I am wondering if I should get trading standards so they could investigate the rest of his work; somebody could get killed next time.
The guy who caused the damage is not to blame, just a guy who does a little bit of gardening on the road (private estate), perfectly reasonable where he was digging, there are plants there. The cables should have been protected and much deeper - this was certainly a forseeable disturbance ... inevitable at some stage.

[Deleted User]

simonx wrote: »

I am wondering if I should get trading standards

Trading Standards have nothing to do with this, they just won't "investigate" at your behest.

It's not a consumer rights issue at all.

If there is a genuine danger present, contact your local Council.

Mr.Generous

Gates could well be low voltage so cable may not come under any regulation as dangerous, I don't know what the requirement actually is for low voltage but I suspect very little if its 12v.

Ectophile

Forget trying to contact anyone at the council. It's private land, and the work was done years ago.


It's the responsibility of whoever owns and maintains the gates to fix it.

[Deleted User]

Ectophile wrote: »

Forget trying to contact anyone at the council. It's private land, and the work was done years ago.

While the Council certainly won't take responsibility, they can take action against those who are responsible if it is in the interest of public safety.

Lomast

Taking action is actually very difficult as the wiring regulations are non statutory. That was the main reason they introduced part p of the building regulations but I'm not sure that building regs would cover electric gates

unforeseen

I don't think the fact that there are gates on the end of the electric string is material, it could have been power to a shed. Regulations to look at would be the ones that govern running electrical cables externally in the ground, probably IEEE regulations. The edition that was relevant at the time of install.

DoaM

unforeseen wrote: »

probably IEEE regulations. The edition that was relevant at the time of install.

Almost right ... IEE Wiring Regs apply for the UK. Or to be more precise, it's now the IET Wiring Regs - BS7671 - 18th Edition is current. (The IEE merged with another Institute to form the IET).

IEEE is a US-based organisation ... Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers