Hi,
I'm sure, that many of you have had to do with IEC 60730 / EN 60730 when designing stuff. We're currently designing one, that falls under that norm.
As with most norms, it's extremly broad, and identifying which clauses apply to particular device is quite hard.
We have a product, which is essentially a building automation control box. It's just a plastic IP-rated enclosure with some cable glands for connecting wiring. The thing has a plastic cover fixed with screws, but no buttons/displays etc on the outside. On the inside there is a PCB which has terminal blocks, power supply and some interface stuff (display, buttons etc). In general the user/installer has to unscrew the cover change settings, which is a rare osccurence. Obviously, the control parts that the user will touch are separated from mains byt a transformer / relays, but there are some live parts like terminal blocks, fuse holders and such.
The problem we have is, that the norm requires that the device be safe during normal use (duh!) and the normal use is defined in following way:
use of control, or its associated equipment, for the purpose for which it was made, and in the manner intended by the manufacturer"
Note 1: normal use includes any overload or abnormal operating conditions specified in the equipment standard
Note 2: normal use does not include any process which is necessary to maintain the control or equipment in good order, even though this may be carried out by the user according to manufacturers instructions
Now, our logical interpretation would be, that if the device is designed to generally be left alone and do its job 24/7, and be opened only for service or change of configuration, this falls under the Note 2, and as long as the manual says "don't fucking touch this and that when you change settings", we are compliant.
The difference is, that if we need to make the live stuff inside inaccessible, then we need to factor in cost for injection molding a special cover, which we obviously want to avoid.
The use case is quite common I think, and I haven't seen any similar device have any cover over live parts inside, but those products may just not be fully compliant with the norm.
Can you maybe share your experience with that?