Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Andy Wade writes:

It now appears that all this will change, such that all power cables
buried at less than 50 mm depth will require 30 mA RCD protection,
_even_if_in_the_safe_zones_ unless one of the above special cable types,
or metal conduit/trunking is used.

What's the justification for this?
Or is it just knee jerk without any risk analysis to back it up?

What will it cost over the next 20 years? With a 40 year mean
installation life, 30 million houses and 1 extra rcbo (dropped to a
mean £15 price) thats
0.5x 30 mill x £15 = £225 million.

And how many lives will it save: judging by the last 20 years about
2. £112 milion per life saved.

Compare this to the numerous other ways to save lives in quantity
at a fraction of the cost... hard to see how it can be a sensibly
analysed policy, though I'm open to education.


NT