5. Effect of Safety Regulations and Safe Working Practices on Substation Design

From the very beginning of the use of electrical power, it has been known that substations present a significant risk to personnel particularly from electric shock. Consequently, the design of electrical substations has always had to take into account the relevant measures to protect people who may be building, commissioning, operating, maintaining, or decommissioning the substation from these and other risks. In this section the basic logic behind the measures to be adopted is presented, and these will be illustrated in many cases by dimensions. Any dimensions presented in this chapter should be considered as minima, and any designer should be aware that utilities throughout the world have usually developed specific requirements for their own substations. These specific requirements that may be incorporated into safety rules or in some cases legal requirements must be complied with when designing substations for a particular utility.