Medium voltage cable waits for the owner's release.

A buyer does not isolate anything and does not decide when a circuit is safe. That decision belongs to the owner of the installation, or to the utility where the circuit is theirs, and it is recorded before anyone touches the cable. Ask for the confirmation in writing and keep it with the lot paperwork.

Lockout and tagout is the owner's procedure, not a buyer's. Where the lot sits in a plant, the plant's electrical authority applies the locks; where it sits on a utility site, the utility's switching order does. A seller who cannot name who isolated the circuit has not yet got a lot that can be reviewed.

Testing for absence of voltage is a live task, done with the right instrument by a qualified person, on a tester proven against a known source immediately before and after. A non-contact pen is not proof. The result is recorded, with the date, the instrument used and the person who did it.

Shielded cable adds stored energy. The shield and the semicon layers behave as a capacitor, and a length that has been disconnected can hold a charge until it is discharged and grounded. Discharge is done with a grounding set applied in the correct order, and the cable stays grounded while work continues.

Minimum approach distances exist because an air gap is not a safety margin at medium voltage, and the distance grows with the voltage. The principle is that unqualified people stay well clear of anything not proven dead, and that even qualified work happens at a distance the voltage justifies rather than one that merely feels comfortable.

For a seller, that means keeping people and equipment back from exposed conductor, energised equipment and any cable end whose status is unclear. Do not use a reel as a work surface, do not lean cable against switchgear, and do not assume a building is dead because the lights are off and the office is quiet.

PPE follows the task and the owner's rules: arc-rated clothing, eye and face protection, insulating gloves within their test date, and footwear that suits the site. A visitor's kit is not a substitute for the site procedure, and where the two differ, the stricter one applies.

The rule that overrides everything else is that nothing is cut before the owner confirms isolation. Not to check the conductor, not to shorten a reel for transport, not to see what sits inside a PILC sheath. A cut end is a commitment, and it is made only after the circuit is proven dead and released.

If isolation is uncertain, the lot waits. No reel of cable is worth an injury, and no review is urgent enough to justify touching a conductor whose status nobody can name.