On Tuesday, August 18, 2020 at 8:35:01 AM UTC-4, TimR wrote:
On Monday, August 17, 2020 at 4:44:27 PM UTC-4, Tekkie® wrote:
Any disconnect I ever saw had some kind of protective panel over the line side.
It might be old and have fallen out or disintegrated. I saw a piece of
cardboard shoved in one once. I'm sure Greg & Clare have other stories to tell.

--
Tekkie

The safety panel is in place.

The fuse block holds two cylindrical fuses, looking something like fat AA batteries. The fuse block pulls completely out if you need to change fuses or cut power completely - you insert it rotated while power is out. The fuses are hidden on the back side of the fuse block when it is inserted. There is no obvious way to do Lockout/Tagout or ZeroEnergyState or whatever OSHA calls it lately.

You can take the block with you, hide it, etc. That prevents anyone
from putting the power back on and killing you. But it does still leave
the hole in the panel open and energized where some dummy could kill
themselves, so it's not totally safe.





The fuses are held in copper clamps. The clamps are secured to the fuse block with large brass screws from the front side; the holes are a good half inch across and a finger can slip in.

I suppose it is possible there are little plastic caps made to fit those holes.

You would hope so. Like Tekkie, I never saw a disconnect where any live
parts were exposed in anyway.



Here's an image online. It looks like the upper screw holes are sealed, which is a good idea because his thumb is in a risky spot otherwise:
https://www.bhg.com/home-improvement...ower-fuse-box/

It looks to me like they put a raised block across the upper part as a
comfortable spot for your thumb. You can't tell what's going on with the
bottom two holes, I'd be surprised if they are not covered/insulated.




Grainger advertises "finger safe" fuse blocks so apparently it is a known problem.

Interesting, but I wonder what that really means.