This is what I found yesterday morning in a basement in St. Louis.
That gas pipe is about an inch away from the front of that handy box and switch.
Why?
I find stuff like this more often than you'd think.
If the switch were properly installed and operational, I wouldn't care. It was not, however.
There was no power in this box so the switch could not have done anything.
I had gone to this location to temporarily install service to the furnace to which this box is attached.
I had to hold the pipe over to the side just a little so I could eventually remove the plate and switch.
I was finally able to clip the one wire on the switch, run some wire, temp the furnace, and install a breaker.
It took about an hour to get this done.
It was 16°F in the basement.