Protected from physical damage can mean for instance mounted off the ground where a ladder, man lift, or bucket truck is required for access, or fenced in. Not just in a raceway. This kind of construction method can be a bit “old school” but it’s easy to work with if done neatly and you have the space. I’ve seen some real nightmare messes though. Places I was nervous about getting close to never mind servicing.
Technically if you spliced say exposed run rated cable or SOOW with say double barrel crimped lugs and used an approved splicing method like using heat shrink heavy wall adhesive lined tubing you could do it out in the open. This isn’t for the tap rule but this splicing method is often used with submersible wells, various construction/excavation (temporary wiring) and marine applications. The splice is stronger than the cable if done properly.
The thing about the tap rules to remember is either we are working typically in a situation where the downstream overcurrent protection rather than upstream is providing the protective function. Technically this happens all the time although not as a result of the tap rule. Primary fuses on a transformer for instance rarely give much if any overload protection to the secondary side let alone the transformer itself. Despite the lack of protection from overloads the unprotected cable is really in very little danger unless a fault happens on the unprotected cable that does not trip the primary protection and bypasses the secondary protection. This applies for instance also to “double tapping” the transformer secondary. The tap rules are there to allow this to be done safely but the physical protection rules are there to prevent faults during accidents. I have seen situations where bollards around these areas are necessary even with raceways installed.
