In message , Gordon H
writes
In message , K
writes

Those are very fair points, but I think there's a difference between
killing yourself and killing others. No problem with allowing people
who should know better to do daft things and injure themselves, but I
think we should try our best to stop people doing things that might
injure other people.

Quite. Burying a cable without proper protection is leaving a
potential death trap for whoever tends your garden/buys your
house/replaces the shed.

In this particular instance the OP planned to plug it in to an outside
socket so it would have been visible.

When we moved into this (new) house 48 years ago my energetic
neighbour had his front garden dug over and grassed long before I
tackled mine. In the process he put his pick through the surface drain,
which ran into a shared soil pipe drain.


So the primary fault was with the (qualified/certified) builder who had
put the surface drain close to the surface without protection. or are
you saying only qualified/certified people should be allowed to use a
pick?

God I've just thought. I've never been taught to breath - better stop
right awa..... :-)
He was living 5000 miles away when I discovered that he had "repaired"
it by covering the hole with an opened-out baby food tin, which had
subsequently rusted away.
(Thanks, Brendan)!

I only sussed this out after having to rod out the shared drain at
regular intervals over a period of many months, when topsoil appeared
amongst the sh**. 8-(

Fortunately my other neighbour was a builder by trade and he helped to
diagnose the problem and replaced the pipe, using his professional
skills.
So you want to have only licensed people doing any maintenance work
whatsoever?
There are far worse things in life than a blocked drain.

--
hugh
It may be more complicated but is it better?