Tragic And Bizarre Electrocution

[JohnW2]

And now I remember ... I found the plotline where he just phoned up, asked for a circuit to be turned off, and the DNO just did it ... a bit implausible.

You say it is 'implausible', and we have agreed that it could result in a lot of unnecessary 'power cuts' (some maybe due to 'prank calls) - but, in relation to the 2012 incident ...

UK Power Networks said it had since changed its policy so that when similar issues are reported, power is turned off before technicians are sent out.

 

[morqthana]

All true - and they said that they had now changed that policy.

However, one has to wonder how many 'reports' from the general public they receive that would/will result in their turning off the supply until it has been expected when the nature or severity of the problem did not actually represent an immediate threat to anyone?

These days there's a good chance that someone calling in a report could send photos or a video of the problem there and then.

 

[JohnW2]

These days there's a good chance that someone calling in a report could send photos or a video of the problem there and then.

Indeed they could, and I imagine that many would - and if they didn't volunteer such 'evidence' one might hope that the person on the DNO end of the phone call would ask for it. However ....

.... I have to say on the few (only 2 or 3 come immediately to mind) occasions on which I have tried to 'report things' to a DNO, I have had grave difficulties in getting the person on the end of the call to even understand what I was talking about!

 

[AdrianUK]

I pleased to say my experience is the opposite.

I called National Grid Yesterday to report damage (well, half the boards ripped off) to a wooden substation door that I walk past with the dog.

I dialled 105 and got connected with a knowledgeable call handler who understood exactly what I was telling her, had a good grasp of the possible dangers & the risk posed. She gave the expected warnings about do not approach or touch etc and, after I informed her that I have knowledge of 11kV and wouldn't be going near the thing, told me that she would pass the details onto an Engineer. She did ask if I had any photos (I didn't ... it didn't occur to me at the time to take them)

When I went past a few hours later the door had been patched up & secured.

 

[SUNRAY]

I pleased to say my experience is the opposite.

I called National Grid Yesterday to report damage (well, half the boards ripped off) to a wooden substation door that I walk past with the dog.

I dialled 105 and got connected with a knowledgeable call handler who understood exactly what I was telling her, had a good grasp of the possible dangers & the risk posed. She gave the expected warnings about do not approach or touch etc and, after I informed her that I have knowledge of 11kV and wouldn't be going near the thing, told me that she would pass the details onto an Engineer. She did ask if I had any photos (I didn't ... it didn't occur to me at the time to take them)

When I went past a few hours later the door had been patched up & secured.

I have to say I've had a quick response to calls too, 5-10 years back A saw the bottom wire of OH LV distribution sagging onto a telephone drop wire and pulling it down to about 7 feet. As it was nearly school chucking out time I volunteered to stand guard if they were coming straight out. 10-15 mins was all it took.

2 cases of earth cables removed from poles (seen while walking) were repaired by the following day but I don't know what the response time was.

A neighbours dog yelped at a particular spot a couple of times then wouldn't get near it, neon screwdriver detected that problem. Reporting the grass was live it was dug up and repaired within 2 hours. But took over a week to fill the hole in and reseed, apparently that wasn't included in the emergency callout teams remit.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

I think the issue is the same with all the Utilities, along with Highways. There are such vast swathes of infrastructure, miles of cables, pipes and roads, it would be impossible to monitor the condition of everything in real time, so the respective Companies/Authorities have to rely on the Public to be their eyes and ears and report issues in a timely manner. Power Companies do survey overhead wires from a helicopter, but what is ok now, could effectively be damaged/dangerous in a hours time. Highways do their inspections but with so many miles of roads and footpaths, problems can often arise quickly and become serious long before the next inspection is due.

Once reported though, the onus is then on the appropriate Bodies to attend to and/or make the reported issue safe in a prompt manner.

 

[fixitflav]

It's hard to think of what else they could do to enable them to become aware of 'dangling cables' (that hadn't yet touched anything) in rural settings.

In the link it says "The fault was reported to UK Power Networks earlier that day, but the company did not cut the power." That's where they went wrong IMO.

 

[JohnW2]

In the link it says "The fault was reported to UK Power Networks earlier that day, but the company did not cut the power." That's where they went wrong IMO.

Yes, in this case it transpired that it was 'wrong'.

However, as discussed above, if DNOs 'cut the power' every time an unknown member of the public called them and reported some possible problem, goodness knows how many 'unnecessary power cuts' that would result in - and even, as has been said, the possibility of deliberate 'prank calls' designed to result in inappropriate reactions by DNOs,

As with so many such situations, the difficult thing is in trying to decide what policy would result in the most reasonable compromise between 'not enough power cuts' and 'too many power cuts'

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Just as an aside to point out something else the DNO's are having to deal with, we were out on a job in a semi rural Village a few weeks ago. Next to our site, was a another site, concealed from the road behind large wooden gates, looked like they were building hardstanding plots to site Caravans. There was some activity, going on, we could hear voices, and see some activity through the fence between our site and theirs but they were working behind several parked vehicles so we didn't take a lot of notice.

The power to the site then went off, and because our site is critical infrastructure, we have to report and log any power failures as soon as the appropriate person becomes aware, just so happened on this occasion it was rather quicker than normal as we were already on site. Others from neighbouring properties were also coming out to ask the Neighbours if their power was off, it aspired it was near enough, if not all, the Village.

About 10 minutes later a Guy from the DNO arrived, he said the timing was pure chance as he was on the nearby A1 when the call came in, and was literally 5 minutes away from the site. We then put 2 and 2 together and realised all the activity next door was happening at the foot of a Pole where the Electricity Transformer was mounted....

The DNO Guy knew exactly what he was looking for, it couldn't be seen from the road because of the tall gates, and they'd blocked any view from our site with their vehicles, but it aspired the Guys next door had pulled the Fuses on the LV side of the Transformer in order to make an illegal connection to the supply, made their connection, then he'd caught them in the act of replacing the fuses!

He said it is getting very common, these people know exactly what they are doing, have the correct kit to do it, (either stolen or bought to do the job), and the connections, apart from being illegal, can also be substandard and dangerous. This was the first time though he'd actually caught them in the act.

His next task was to wait for the Police, as the Electricity People would need access to the site to remove what had been done and make sure the DNO apparatus was safe and in proper working order.