Trumpy,
I think the U.K. thread you're thinking of is
this one . I certainly don't envy the guys who have to turn out of bed at 2a.m. on a wet, cold, miserable night and go trekking across a muddy field to climb a pole and start working live on 11 or 33kV lines.
As you know, I'm not an outside HV line guy, but even when just working on my bench at home I'm aware of the risks of not having someone else present. It would be nice to always have someone around, "just in case," but living alone I don't have that luxury.
A lot of the vintage valve/tube equipment on which I work has supplies capable of delivering anything from 200 to a few kV at several hundred milliamps or more. I take what precautions I can, and am pleased to say that I've received no shocks from any of this sort of gear for many, many years!
