"heart-lung bypass machine or something like that, there is no hazard"
Not life threatening but it is that serious. But that wasn't the point. From that perspective and due the fact it's not "life threatening" equipment or something, that's the owners responsibility if they want it there. (Security's not my bag.)
I guess it's okay. I don't personally know of a reason it can't be installed that way code wise, nor could I find one. But it IS the first one I've ever seen installed this way. (Really wierd looking.) Usually if something looks that strange and you've never seen it before it's a good rule of thumb to question it because there usually is a reason you haven't seen it that way before. I didn't have a problem with it, but I couldn't help but question the legality of it being exposed in the hall. The quote above got my attention though. It's not a safety issue to have breakers exposed unless the voltage is the issue. So I leaned toward it's probably OK immediately after seeing that. After reading so much of the NFPA (which the NEC is part of) you start noticing tendancies in methods. The safety aspect is fine, unless I missed something which I don't think I did, so I think it's ok. It appears to be okay from the general consensus here too.
That answer is a little scatterbrained, but I think I said what I mean hurrying.
