¢ a ']20US.LOWS “Sacma ‘Australian communicating | facilitating | regulating Cabling separation from hazardous services rules This responsibility includes working with industry to censure that minimum cabling requirements are in place to: ‘© protect the health and safety of cabling providers, carrier personnel and customers using telecommunications networks; and ‘+ protect the integrity ofa telecommunications network, A key protection for the health and safety of cablers ‘and consumers is the requirement that ‘communications cabling must be adequately separated ‘or segregated from electrical cabling. The minimum separation requirements are set out in the Ausiralian Standard, AS/ACIE S009:2006 ‘leg es ‘The Wiring Rules define the technical requirements for installing and maintaining customer cabling or customer equipment Under the Telecommunications Cabling Provider Rules 2000, all eabling work must be performed or supervised in accordance with the Wiring Rules. What are the minimum separation requirements? ‘The minimum separation requirements set out in the Wiring Rules depend on the type of cabling work and the voltage of the electrical cabling. Another Factor is whether there is an interposing barrier segregating the ‘communications cabling from the electrical wiring The following is a summary of some of the important separation requirements set out in the Wiring Rules. It is an indicative summary only and should not be used asa substitute for referring directly to the Wiring Rules. Appropriately registered cablers should consult the Wiring Rules for information about all technical requirements relating tothe installation of cabling. FS9-Fetwary 2010 Indoor and outdoor surface telecommunications cabling Separation from low voltage (LV) cables by a. aminimum distance of $0 mm; ba barrier of durable insulating material or metal; aatimber or metal stud, nogging, joist or rafer of any thickness; and 4, a minimum of 150 mm between open telecommunications terminations and LV clectrical terminations. Separation from high voltage (HV) cables by: 4. not less than 450 mm separation from single core HY cables; or . for multi-core HV cables, by i. distance of not less than 300 mm; or li, distance of not less than 150 mm where there is an interposing barrier; and iil, a distance of not less than 175 mm around the interposing barrier Outdoor underground cabling and outdoor aerial cabling Different separation requirements apply to outdoor underground cabling and outdoor aerial cabling, ‘The underground cabling separation requirements from power cables and other hazardous services are set out in section 5.5.3 of the Wiring Rules. The ‘minimum separation distance from power cabling that has protective covering ranges from 100 mm in an exclusive trench crossing above LY to 300 mm ina shared trench with HV cable, For more information, see Table 2 in section S of the Wiring Rules. Joint use of poles is only allowed ifthe pole owner ‘authorises that arrangement. The shared pole cannot support cables carrying greater than LV and the telecommunications cable cannot be run above the power cable ofJe0USLOWS ‘The separation requirements for telecommunications cables from power cables and light fittings on poles are set out in section 5.5.4 of the Wiring Rules. ‘The minimum separation distance from power cables, and light fittings ranges from SO mm at the ight fiuing to 2,100 mm atthe crossing between telecommunications cables and HV lines on ‘other poles wm How does the separation rule protect the health and safety of cablers and customer ‘The separation of customer eabling from electrical hazardous services is required to avoid creating a dangerous situation resulting from mechanical damage of communications cables, for example: ‘© customer cable and electrical cable with no separation may suffer simultaneous penetration from nails, serews, drills, saws, sharp objects that ‘may cause a hazardous current to appear on the communications cables ‘© contact with other hazardous services, such as pipes containing corrosive or flammable liquid, ‘oF gas, or of temperatures higher than 60° Celsius will damage customer cables; and ‘+ sheath buming (heating effect) of customer cables may occur when they are pulled across other surfaces, causing the sheath and the ‘conductor insulation to melt and compromising the service-simultaneous burning of telecommunications and electrical cables where the sheath and conductor insulation both melt is of the greatest concern. The minimum requirements under the separation rule for LV and HV also help to reduce the inductive coupling (noise) effect on extended parallel cable runs. Additional specifications are also preseribed by cabling manufactures to guarantee maximum performance of their products FS9-Fetmary 2010, Compliance with the separation rule ‘The ACMA can impose financial penalties for breaches of the separation requirements set out in the Wiring Rules. For more information about the ACMA's approach to enforcement, see the ACMA industry fact sheet on Telecommunications More information For more information about eabling separation requirements, see the ACMA website or contact an ACMA office on 1300 850 115. ‘The Wiring Rules are on the Communications Alliance Lid website. Please note: this documents nended asa gude only and should ot be relied ona egal adie or regarded a usta for lego vice indaed Ces