Im sure there are many guys who've worked in live boards and enclosures ect, we've all done it to some extent. Im not inferring anyone is wrong or right. I was merely questioning the validity of doing so when we consider EAWR, namely the paragraph that Andy copied and pasted. Its a little bit of a grey area in terms of how close is close to live terminals. What we must also consider is the individual situation, i.e working in a TPN switchfuse with live incoming terminals could be very different to a domestic CU in terms of PFC PSSC ect. Also, manufactueres instructions stating boards or switches are suitable for drawing in cables whilst the board is live would be evidence of equipments suitability to do so.
I would suggest certainly some of the things on the thread that sparks have done have certainly contravened EAWR, i.e attaching mccb's onto a live busbar because the owner of the factory didnt want you to knock power off. My personal view is that there are very very few circumstances where it is unreasonable to isolate the supply hence this should be done to preserve someone's safety over inconvenience.
