ECN Forum Forums Code Related Discussion NEC & other Code issues Where is the hazard?

I stood in front of this panel and tried to imagine what I would be doing in there. I thought the shelf was a handy place to set my tools and didn't seem to keep me from reaching anything but I am pretty tall.
I found out it is really 9 1/2" not 11 1/2 (1x10 vs 1x12)

Right along those lines, I have had a couple of times where I had to crawl on my hands and knees to get through an access to get to the Service equipment. There was a light in the area, there was a "refrigerator" space once I got in there but I've often wondered if I wrote this up what code reference I'd use. Was it accessible? Yes. Was it readily accessible? Maybe.

I've wondered about the guy who is shall we say well fed, what does he do? I also had a job where the access was about 16 inches wide and some of us would not have access to that space:)

I had a similar situation in the attic of the Ringling Museum in Sarasota Fl. I told them that was not readily accessible. You had to "climb over" and around ductwork etc and it was in such a place that you couldn't be "reached quickly". They ended up cutting in another access right next to the panel with a permanent ladder. It was actually quite a nice ladder for a "pull down". Not your daddy's attic ladder.
The mechanical inspector and the maintenance people thanked me for being a jerk about this since a lot of the maintenance items they expected to be easier to get at were now accessible too.