Department-Specific APC Access

[Deathslayer448]

well to be fair, those in charge of maintaining the buildings electrical grid and other functions at ones place of work also don't spend the entire time trying to recreate the core of the sun inside the power generator(ITER being the exception)

[palpetinus]

I'd like to mention something again:
Currently, anyone who would sabotage an APC by unlocking and turning it off is either from the engineering department (mechanic/engineer) or a head of such a department or higher (CE, cap, HoP). All of those either already have insuls and a full set of tools or very easy access to both. So instead of turning the APCs off, they'd instead snip one or both of the power cables. Funny enough, that sort of sabotage would be harder to fix as people don't often think to open the APCs AND on top of that, the AI can't fix it anymore.

With department-specific APC access, the Medical Doctor or whatever still cannot easily get insuls and can only get tools by walking to the nearest general fab (easy to hard, think Cog1 and Oshan). Meaning in practicality, APC access won't counter traitors, it would only alleviate the cases of a power outage and, I suppose temporarily, a rogue AI.

I also feel like mentioning the RP aspect of it. Yes, realistically I could at my workplace just get up, go to the fuse box and switch off the entire floor of my company's workplace. Obviously, I'd get in massive trouble but I could.
The same would apply in SS13, if the Medical Doctor starts fiddling with the APC, engineering won't be very happy about it but in an emergency, that sort of access could save lives. Of course on Classic that's moot.

[Eagletanker]

You do realize the AI has APC control and you can just ask it to turn it on

[Technature]

What if the AI is the reason it's off in the first place, and it refuses to turn it on?

[palpetinus]

You do realize the AI has APC control and you can just ask it to turn it on

Yes, which happens about maybe half the time in my experience. Mostly it gets swallowed by all the "AI track Traitor McMaint" and "AI DOOR!!!" messages, or the AI is already dead. Or, as the other guy already said, the AI might be the one responsible in the first place.