Not sure if you had the job as lineman you would have that opinion.
The lineman, I am certain, ARE concerned about the lineman.
You can hate the "power companies" all you desire. Real people are working the lines and back feed is dangerous.
A good friend of mine, in America, worked as a lineman, and had stories to tell of colleagues who were linemen. They often do their work, intentionally, with live lines. They know very well what they are doing, and must take proper precautions to avoid electrocution. If they can work on live lines which have hundreds of thousands of volts, why should they fear to work, taking similar precautions, on a supposedly dead line that has some residual voltage in the 120-220v range?
Probably a totally separate issue, but I have also witnessed an extremely skilled welder arc welding on a steel pipe through which natural gas was flowing. He explained to me that it was safer NOT to turn off the gas, but to leave it "live" (flowing) because this helps to prevent overheating on the joint while he is welding. Thermal conduction. If there had been a massive explosion, I would not be here to tell the story because I watched from a few feet away. Because there is no oxygen running with the fuel in the pipe, there can be no explosion--but to the uneducated and/or less skilled, the risk seems much greater than it actually is. Of course, this, too, was in America. American ingenuity and skill should not be underestimated.
I tend to agree with those who see these strict regulations on electrical export as coming more from the angle of controlling (and punishing competition) than from purely a sense of safety. Nor is this the only industry where such overreach is to be observed. When was the last time the operation of a cell phone (as a cell phone, of course) actually endangered an aircraft? Industries like rules that favor their commercial interests. There is nothing new under the sun.
