PLC's and NFPA70E

A bit off topic... Wondering how other factories handle NFPA70E and accessing PLC's. In most plants I've worked in we have the PLC and 480V disconnect all in the same cabinet. Now with 70E "working on are near live equipement" they are asking me to suit up as if I was going to work on the 480V. I know where they are comming from..never can tell when an Arc Flash or accidental contact. I've tried to use 70E as justification to get my PLC networked. Interested in how other folks handle this situation.

I try to get most of my customers to install external programming ports on the outside of the PLC cabinets.

For existing equipment either external programming ports or network the PLCs has been the approach by most that I have seen. For new equipment I like to use a power distribution cabinet separate from the PLC cabinet which only contains 24VDC, plus the external prog port.

We also have a lot of clients requesting us to perform Arc Flash Hazard analisys for there facilities. This way you can determine what your arc flash boundaries are for all buses, panels, mccs, etc. and what PPE is required to work inside them with power on. That last 3 months I've been doing Arc Flash studies and calculations like crazy.

I have had several customers order cables (custom lenght) they would leave the cable plug into the PLC and have the 232 side on the outside of the cabinet, then they don't need to open the door