court finds an electrical contractor seventeen thousand pounds this week following the tragic
death of a security guard in ireland the electrical trade moves to put up prices as the
cost of living soars and Craig and Derricot unveils an EV charger that it claims is the easiest
to install on the market welcome to electrical news weekly whether you're listening in the van
on-site down at the wholesale counter or if you're a designer and you've made it safely to
your desk wherever you are i hope your week is off to a great start i'm joe robinson and i've
been through the best of the electrical industry news to save you the trouble and as always don't
forget to listen out for the two words that i've been challenged to slip into today's show
comment below or tag us on social media if you think you've spotted them now our top story today
is a 17 000 pound fine handed down to an irish contractor after a 44 year old man was crushed
by an electric gate Victor Alange died in 2016 when the one ton rolling gate fell on him as he
was trying to close it manually ees enterprise electrical services talar business center in
dublin pleaded guilty of failing to ensure the safety of the gate at navan retail park
the health and safety authority told the court that there had been persistent issues with the
electric motors of the gate in question as well as two others between april and june that year an
investigation concluded that metal stop plates welded to the gates would have prevented them
from being pulled from the pillar and toppling over as well as the fine judge terence o'sullivan
imposed costs of over ten thousand pounds the team here at efixx would like to extend our deepest
condolences to the family and friends of mr lunge our thoughts are with you in other news an efixx
survey has revealed that the electrical trade is increasing its prices in response to the rising
cost of living the majority of self-employed electricians taking part in the poll said they had
already put up their rates most of the rest said they are planning an increase some 40 of those
surveyed are employed by a contracting firm or another organization and they report that they are
awaiting and expecting a boost in their wages and just 10 percent of all respondents said that they
are sticking to current rates now one electrician who's probably due a performance related pay rise
is alex randall of somerset based firm james norris electrical alex has been selected by
national electrotechnical training to represent the UK at the world skills competition in shanghai
it follows his consistently high performance at the uk skill electric competition
he's now in intensive training with experts from cardiff and vale college Alex lend his trade at
bridgewater and taunton college and he now joins a squad of 38 of the young people who will head
to china october where he will compete against 80 other countries in a battle to bring home a
gold medal all the best alex we're rooting for you the professionalism of electricians was also
on the agenda in westminster this week prominent politician owen thompson who is the chief whip
of the scottish national party has thrown his weight behind the campaign to regulate the trade
he lent his support to Select scotland's largest construction trade association who are lobbying
for the occupation of electrician to become a so-called protected profession like a gas engineer
the issue is already under consideration in the scottish parliament but thompson says he
wants to raise the matter urgently in the house of commons on the grounds of public safety and indeed
electrical safety is the topic of a new e-fix cpd package this week we're looking at amendment to
circuit protection this has brought a number of key changes in the 18th edition so if you're not
sure if you have to install afds if you dread the thought of calculating risk factors for spds
and don't know if you can get away without our cds then this is the training package for you thanks
to our friends at BG Luceco this cpd is absolutely free for you so head over to the knowhow tab on
the efixx website to find it and I'll also leave a link in the show notes also free is a piece of
amazing new software from google which maps over 100 000 miles of underground electricity cables
the tech giant partnered with UK Power Networks to create digital versions of its hand-drawn maps
some of which date back decades the work involved artificial intelligence software scanning
thousands of maps and turning them into a digital format google engineers estimate that the ai work
have saved uk power networks three years of work digital maps mean that electrical contractors and
their customers will get a faster service when they apply to their dno for upgraded connections
for ev charges and the like but before you start digging i'd humbly suggest you check out a video
that we made about safe digging back in march it's a video which has kind of become legendary
in these parts why well we definitely avoided all electrical cables but our builder did hit a large
water pipe like a woodpecker hit in a tree and got an absolute soaking for his trouble but we caught
it all on camera and it's funny so that's okay the video is called safe cable dig and the link is in
the show notes the reason for our dig was that we were installing our staff ev charger here at efixx
towers one thing we wish we'd known about then is a new unit from Craig & Derricot which the company
reckons is the easiest to install on the market it's rated at 32 amps and 7.4 kilowatts and comes
complete with built-in pen fault overload ground fault surge and six milliamp dc leakage protection
the connections are screwless toggle clamp terminals each smart charger comes with a wi-fi
smart hub which doubles as a wi-fi range extender the smart hub communicates all status and settings
between the ev charger and a smart app on your phone this allows you to see power consumption
session durations costs and your carbon savings we're really looking forward to giving this one
a try and adding our review to the EV charger playlist the link to this is as always in the show
notes cheaper easier to install ev charges could help van drivers make the switch to electric say
experts concern has been rising at the low numbers making the move from petrol the reason more than
half fear running out of battery while on the road research from the society of motor manufacturers
has found that 57 of van owners are anxious about finding a charging point when they need it
persuading van drivers to switch to zero emission vehicles is essential if britain is to become net
zero while keeping the nation on the move because of this the industry is calling for a uk wide van
plan to increase electric van uptake and deliver upon ambitious government targets someone who is
trying to help both electric van and car drivers charge up while on the road is blue diamond who
run 39 garden centers across the uk the firm has done a deal with Mer to provide over 300 charge
points at the outlets the units range from seven kilowatts for hybrid drivers up to a maximum of
250 kilowatts not only can you buy your mulch and your bedding plants while charging up you
can choose to use 100 renewable energy leaving you both the time and the peace of mind to enjoy your
garden surrounded by the lovely sound of sparrows robins and blue tits the rollout is due to start
from september now vans aren't the only commercial vehicle switching to electric what's believed to
be the world's largest electric vehicle is working at a quarry in Switzerland the e-dumper is a
65-ton dump truck that hauls 70-ton loads of lime and rocks down the mountainside and the best bit
it hardly ever needs recharging that's because it generates about as much electricity going downhill
as it uses going back up at first this seemed to defy our understanding of physics
but of course the vehicle changes weight at the bottom of the hill once it shed its load
meaning that it's lighter for the return journey uphill the swiss manufacturer Emining ag says it
has plans for even larger electric trucks now that electric trucks are a reality how about electric
planes well they took a step nearer this week with the news that japanese scientists have created
a super light powerful battery that has twice the energy density of those used in tesla's model 3.
researchers at japan's national institute for materials science developed the lithium-air
battery which has a record-breaking energy density of more than 500 watt hours per kilogram even
better the battery can be charged and discharged at room temperature which paves the way for the
use of lithium air batteries in mobile phones electric cars and yes even electric passenger
planes now another buffing in the news this week is tim benstead who has just landed a top job at
Scolmore as technical engagement engineer so many congratulations to him he's a former electrician
and a member of more british standard committees than i can possibly go into here but the reason
we're really tough for tim is that he is of course an eFIXX Awards judge and one of the expert team
passing judgement on product innovations and of course selecting our 30 under 30 panel of talented
young people which we're fairly confident must be the biggest honor that he's enjoyed but seriously
well done tim congratulations we're also in order to Screwfix which has opened its 800th store
and is planning to add another 80 by january next year its new stores will be equipped with
air source heat pumps to provide heating and hot water powered by electricity instead of
gas screwfix's entire store network is already powered exclusively by renewable electricity
with over 250 existing stores fitted with air source heat pumps so far another distributor with
good news this week is Express Electrical who have announced that they are to be an official stockist
of the new pocket max from wiha now if you've been following the channel in recent weeks
you'll know that we love this bit of kit which has four magnetic slim bits hidden in the handle
to pre-order click on the express electrical link in the show notes another bit of kit we're loving
is the audio link plus from aico this is the second iteration of aico's audio link technology
and it makes it easy to access real-time data from alarms using the free app audio link plus extracts
the same data from smoke and carbon monoxide alarms as audio link but it does this quicker
and quieter than before the audio link plus app is backwards compatible meaning audio link alarms
currently installed do not need to be replaced to utilize the new technology and will work with the
new version of the app however users will need to update to the latest version of the app to
download reports from any audio link plus alarms installed within their properties in lighting news
Ansell has unveiled two new low glare luminaires volo cct recessed modular and humber suspended
linear have both been designed to deliver a really low unified glare rating of less than 19
when installed at typical heights and spacings this ensures that there's little risk of glare and
visual discomfort being caused to occupants of the building volo is a mixed direct indirect luminaire
and is suitable for spaces where both ambient and task lighting is required from one source
humber is the more stylish of the two it's a design-led modern suspension light featuring a
slim black powder coated aluminium profile it has a black polycarbonate reflector with individual
optics for that ultra modern look volo and humber are certainly memorable names for light fittings
which begs the question what's in a name could a memorable or funny name actually help customers
remember you in fact a new study by insurance firm simply business reveals that a third of consumers
are more likely to shop at a small business with a witty or funny business name compared to those
without the company is now offering 2 500 pounds to the venture with the title of britain's best
small business name we know of a few for instance a former policeman from around here starting a
gardening venture and called it lawns and order a rival gun from elm bridge in surrey is called
rough around the hedges and a window and door repairs firm in norfolk is called
payne in the glass payne you get it that's p-a-n-e no tough crowd we'd love to hear your suggestions
for electrical contracting firms what about home delivery or current affairs pop your ideas in the
comments and we'll send an efixx goody back to our favourites one electrician who's had to come up
with a new business name is Craig Smith from leeds he has quit the tools to set up a food delivery
service to rival just eat uber eats and deliveroo his family and friends told craig he was crazy but
his business morley eats now has 10 000 users and 77 takeaways on the platform in the yorkshire area
his secret he takes a smaller commission from the takeaway businesses than his competitors do
he undercuts them by taking just seven and a half percent commission off each order which he says is
far lower than his rivals finally a date for your diary the e-fix energy team will be attending the
installer show to check out the latest home energy innovations tools and gadgets it takes place at
the national exhibition center in birmingham from the 21st to the 23rd of june again we've popped
a link to register in the show notes so hopefully we'll see you there now coming up this week on our
youtube channel we'll be taking an in-depth look at the mighty strut slayer from ridgid which is a
fearsome bit of kit and we're live on youtube this wednesday with efix tv with special guest giovanni
boccini md of luden palazzoli and carl dakin of vargo is taking on the electricians challenge
so 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 torque calibrated arm