- Coming up on this week's news.
A landlord is banned from renting property
after 12 students were found living
in a flat with exposed wiring.
A farm is fined 60,000 pounds
over the electrocution of a lorry driver
and we meet the robotic dog trained to hunt
out power cable faults.
Welcome to Electrical News Weekly
in association with the electric heating company.
Whether you're listening in the van onsite
or down at the wholesale counter,
I'm Joe Robinson and I've been through the best
of the electrical industry news to save you the trouble.
And as always, if you think you've spotted the two
words that I've been challenged to slip
into this week's show, comment with them below
for the chance to win a prize.
A landlord has been banned from renting accommodation
after 12 students were discovered living
in a flat with exposed wiring.
Ashiq Rasul was struck off
the landlord register after his property
in Glasgow was branded a recipe for disaster.
Alex Wilson, chairman of Glasgow City
Council's licensing committee
said the combination of the bare cables
and a lack of smoke alarms were massive causes
for concern and could easily have led to a fire.
The committee heard that the electrician who worked
at the property said some of his recommendations were absent
from the documents received by the council.
There were also issues with the condition
of the boiler and the gas hub.
Rasul did not have a multiple occupation license
which is required for such properties.
The committee decided that he was not a fit
and proper person and removed him
from the register of private landlords.
Clearly even duffel coat wearing,
Lambretta driving student mods deserved
to live in safe accommodation.
Still on safety, a court has find a farm 60,000 pounds
after a lorry driver was electrocuted.
Patrick Rice was killed in 2021
after his tipper truck touched an overhead power line
on Littlecombe Farm in Crediton, Devon.
He was delivering stone to repair farm tracks
when the hydraulic arm of the lorry came
into contact with the 11,000 volt cable.
A health and safety executive probe into the incident found
that VB Farm's LLP of Love Street Chester
had failed to carry out an assessment
of how the work could be done safely.
At no stage did it consider the dangers involved
with working near an overhead power line.
VB Farms was found guilty of breaching the electricity
at work regulations at Exeter Magistrate's Court.
The company was also ordered to pay costs of 11,000 pounds.
As always, our thoughts and condolences go
out to the family and friends of Mr. Rice.
Again, another tragic and avoidable accident.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the courts
a company which was ordered to pay
over half a million pounds after their electrician
employee was killed has begun appealing
what it describes
as the disproportionate fine.
Building firm Linbrooke Services Limited
of Netherland Sheffield received a punishment
after Matthew Mason fell
from a stepladder and was impaled on metal piping.
The company was fined 550,000 pounds
and was also ordered to pay the dead man's family
200,000 pounds in compensation.
Mason was fatally injured
while installing a PA system at Bearsden Train Station
in June, 2018.
The 20 year-old was trying to
free speaker cabling that had become stuck when
he fell backwards from a stepladder onto a section
of metal piping that was being used
as a handle for a cable drum.
The piping pierced his side causing internal injuries
and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
In the original trial, the prosecutor said
that the company had failed to assess the risks involved
with pulling cables through a conduit at height.
However, at the high court this week,
Linbrooke Services limited argued
that Mason had contributed to his death.
He used a shortcut cabling method
and had attached a fish wire to the cable
in a wholly inappropriate manner, said Linbrooke,
presumably because it was quicker.
The company said that the process he used for unreeling
a stretch of cable was unauthorized
and a device had been available that he could have used.
The judge rejected the argument.
He did, however, rule
that the fine be reduced to 400,000 pounds
but the compensation order remains the same.
And again, our sincerest condolences
to the family and friends of Mr. Mason.
In other news,
the phased ban on fluorescent tubes takes
full effect this week.
The workhorse T8 lamp is now banned
both in the EU and Great Britain and the slimmer version,
the T5 will follow suit
next February in Britain, however, existing stocks
from suppliers of these lamps will still be available
until they are exhausted.
While there have been reports
of wholesalers stockpiling the light sources
in anticipation of higher prices,
it's expected that overall availability will diminish
in the next few years.
So what do you say to customers who want you to
maintain their fluorescent lighting?
Well, you can take some inspiration from a new install video
that Gordon and Gary have put together.
I've popped the link to that in the show notes.
Also, fresh from the oven is their review of the beast
That is the MEGA X1.
They answer the simple question
is this really the ultimate multifunction tester?
Again, the link is in the show notes.
Spoiler alert, they liked it.
Another innovation that we think is tastier than
a Banoffee cheesecake
is the new TPN disk boards from Fusebox.
The boards have three, seven, 11, and 15 usable ways.
There's a set of 10 KA devices including MCBs, RCBOs
and RCDs, and all the units come
with a factory fitted 125 amp, four pole main switch
and a T2 surge protection device as a standard.
They've really thought of the installer here
with a chunky pan assembly with device N stops and large
easy to terminate earth and neutral terminal bars.
There are shrouded neutral terminal bars
and removable glam plates at
both the top and bottom with smooth edge cable entry.
In terms of accessories, you can get an extension box
and a coin slot door lock.
More info at your nearest fusebox stockist.
Now, how much do you know about under floor wiring systems?
For instance, why can we connect 32 amp unfused tap offs
to a 63 amp bus bar?
Just what is a Clean Earth system
and how many conductors can I install in trunking?
These are just some of the questions I answer
in a special online CPD training course that I've just put
in the can.
I explain access floor systems
in commercial and educational projects in collaboration
with the experts in under floor wiring at Marshall-Tufflex.
All you have to do is watch the series of video tutorials
and answer the accompanying multiple choice questions.
You'll then receive a PDF certificate
for your records and you can count an hours CPD
towards your annual requirement.
The link, as always is in the show notes.
In other product news,
the EV charger maker, myenergi has teamed
up with online Car Marketplace Cinch
in a deal which the firm says aims to bring home charging
to the masses.
Cinch customers will get significant discounts
on both the purchase
and installation price of the Zappy range.
Myenergi says drivers can expect to see savings
of up to 280 pounds on both tethered and untethered models.
Now, this is the first News Weekly in safe
for September, the month when we all redouble our
efforts to put safety front and center in everything we do.
This is of course the time of the year when
many new people join our industry starting apprenticeships
or college courses.
And we at eFIXX are big supporters
of Safe for September, especially safe isolation practice
which could save your life one day.
Even if you are a grizzled old hand at this,
I'm thinking about Gary, obviously,
it's always time well spent to brush
up on the latest safe isolation procedures to
help motivate you.
We've teamed up with the experts at TIS.
Here's the deal.
Take the eFIXX Safe Isolation Training module
and get the certificate which will contribute
to your annual CPD requirement.
You'll then be entered
into a draw to win a TIS Safe Isolation Kit
and in the remote possibility
that you are not one of our winners
you can still take your certificate down to the wholesaler
for 10% off the cost of this top of the range kit.
A perfect start to Safe September, I'd say.
And finally, engineers have come up
with a novel answer to the problem
of cable inspections in narrow underground tunnels.
They've developed a robotic dog who does it
in half the time that humans take.
Nicknamed Spot, the robot is about the size
of a Labrador and he's now
helping UK Power Networks to keep the lights on in London.
He has special motorized legs which keep him steady
on wolf ground and an array of sensors that prevent him
from barking up the wrong tree.
As you'd expect, a robot dog isn't cheap,
but happily UK Power Networks managed to renegotiate
the terms of his leash.
His leash, leash.
Seriously, Ray, you're gonna have to stop putting these in.
It's like dad jokes on steroids.
Anyway, just before we get to your favorite bit
of the show where I reveal last week's challenge words
and winners, we want to thank our premium partners.
We couldn't make the news without you.
First up, they're the people who've created the Swiss
Army knife of solar inverters along
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Up next for all your circuit protection needs,
they're like having an Italian star striker
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Next, they're your one-stop solution provider
for EV installations
from domestic to large DC public chargers,
it's the ingenious and gifted GARO.
The best thing to come
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it's Doncaster Cables, the home of EV Ultra
and other groundbreaking and quality cables.
And to fix all that gear together and to surfaces,
you need fasteners that would win a gold medal,
it's Olympic Fixings.
And finally, celebrating their 100th anniversary
of literally creating connections
in the electrical industry this year,
rising from the flames
like some kind of mythological, avian, it's Phoenix Contact.
Big thanks to you all.
We really appreciate your ongoing support for the news.
If you think you know the words that I've smuggled
into this week's show, pop your guess
into the comments and we'll dig out a goodie bag prize
to the first to get the right answers.
Last week's words were Budgerigar and Mohawk
and the first person to get both right was our old friend
and serial winner, Mark.
Just Mark. Very well done to you, sir.
Make sure you click the link
in the description to claim your prize.
Thanks for listening to this episode
of Electrical News Weekly
in association with the Electric Heating Company.
Make sure you subscribe to receive the next update.
Thanks for listening, and until next time,
have a great week.
Stay safe out there.
And remember, there's no such thing
as a talk calibrated arm.