Re: UPS War Story
The trigger circuit for the generators and their supply to the building were in the same trench\duct as the mains power feed...
There but for the grace go we all..
Not sure that I would have used the term "trigger circuit", but that's a small detail. You have nicely illustrated the concept of a Single Point of Failure and it is arguable that someone should have spotted what could happen. Did anyone advise the contractors that there were supply cables somewhere in the vicinity of where they were going to dig, and if not why not? And did the contractors have a formal Permit to Work? With the U/G cables in the car park being external to the premises then the cable may have been the property and responsibility of the DNO and they tend not to look favourably on people digging up their cables without checking with them beforehand to find out where the cable runs were. At the same time I'm not sure that they would have allowed the output from the generators to use the same trench at the time of installation.
Always the remember the Rule of Ps: PPPPPP. There simply must be other El Reg subscribers who know what this means.
(For the avoidance of doubt I am not having a go at kmac499 as there is no reason to suppose that he was in any way responsible; the points are rhetorical.)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
