- Coming up on this week's news,
thieves target EV charges
in their copper cables in a crime wave sweeping the UK.
Amey Rail is fined half a million pounds
as a worker suffers horrific electrocution injuries
and women electricians come together
to tackle imposter syndrome.
Welcome to Electrical News Weekly.
Whether you're listening in the van, on site
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.
The UK is suffering a wave of thefts
as criminals discover the value
of electric vehicle chargers and their copper cables.
From Sheffield to Oxford to Bournemouth,
reports are coming into eFIXX at an alarming rate.
In one small estate in Hungerford,
15 chargers have been removed under the cover of night.
In other incidents, charging cables are hacked off
and removed even when they're connected to cars.
It's believed that the stolen units often end up
on secondhand websites such as Gumtree, eBay
and Facebook Marketplace where they can fetch
around 200 pounds.
The used cables command around 50 pounds for their metal.
Security experts recommend CCTV, dash cameras
and using a padlock to deter thieves.
They also say that cybersecurity weaknesses,
which allow criminals to access
and unlock charge points need to be fixed.
The robbery of tools has also been a major headache
for the electrical trade in recent years.
But now victims are asking
if it's been effectively legalized
in London following the revelation that just 0.3%
of gear raids have resulted in a charge.
A freedom of information request
to the Metropolitan Police reveals
that almost 35,000 tools were stolen in London
from 2021 to 2022 compared to 21,000 from 2019 to 2020
but just three cases in 1,000 ended up
with the accused going to court.
In 86% of incidents in the capital reported
between 2021 and 2022, a suspect was never identified.
It's estimated that over a 40-year working life,
tradespeople will typically lose 10,000 pounds
and six working days to tool theft.
Electricians are advised to mark
and photograph their more valued items,
record serial numbers where possible
and fit expensive pieces of kit with tracking devices.
In other news,
Amey Rail has been fined a whopping half a million pounds
after a worker suffered life-changing injuries
from touching a live cable at 25,000 volts.
Self-employed technician, Alistair Hunt suffered 55% burns
and he needed skin grafts following the incident.
His eyesight and hearing were also affected.
It appears Hunt was part of a team who were unaware
that they were working outside an electrical isolation area.
They were checking electrical circuitry
on railway tracks about two and a half miles
outside London's Paddington Station.
The rail watchdog has now found
that Amey Rail Limited did not have effective systems
in place to supervise the safe conduct of the work.
The company also failed to ensure that test
before touch was properly and adequately carried out.
Test before touch is a method
of proving cables and conductors are dead
before people are allowed to work on them.
Amey Ray Limited pleaded guilty
to an offense under Health and Safety at Work legislation.
It was fined 533,000 pounds, and ordered to pay costs
of 41,000 pounds and a victim surcharge of 181 pounds.
To keep yourself safe from electric shock,
check out our free training packages to help you
with your CPD on the subject of safe isolation.
You'll find the link in the show notes.
Now, women in our trade face a few challenges
that generally men don't tend to experience quite so much.
The first is isolation.
While it seems every guy spark has a mate on the tools,
female electricians often never meet
with other trades women.
One lady plumber said it took her 17 years to meet another.
Another problem is imposter syndrome.
This is when someone feels
like they shouldn't be doing what they're doing.
The good news is that female electricians
and other tradeswomen are set to get together
and talk about these and other issues.
And everyone's invited.
The Women Installers Together event takes place in London
on Thursday the 6th of July and is completely free.
The first time it was held back in 2017,
they were queuing up the street to get in.
So register early to reserve your place.
I've popped a link in the show notes.
In product news this week,
KNIPEX has unveiled its first ever tool backpack.
The Modular X18 lets you carry 15 kilos of kit in comfort
and as you'd expect from this German manufacturer,
it's top quality with space for 50 tools.
You can also buy a fully loaded bag
especially for electricians with 22 items,
16 of them are KNIPEX.
Check out the webpage for this product.
The video is hypnotic
and this is definitely going on my present list.
The company has also introduced a metric version
of its forged wire strippers to complement the AWG model.
These are designed specifically
for metric cable cross-sections.
A clever step design means that it cuts single wires
in cables, one after another, reducing the effort required.
There are five stripping profiles
and it can cut round wires right up
to 15 millimeters in diameter.
Click the link in the show notes
to see all the reviews we've done on KNIPEX tools.
There's some great stuff in there.
Lighting Company Ledvance has come up
with a clever idea ahead
of the UK's ban on fluorescent tubes later this year.
By the way, if you missed our previous News Weekly
about the phasing out of florries,
I've popped a link to that in the show notes.
But what Ledvance has done is come up with a LED tube
and driver kit to make it easy to make the switch.
You pop out the fluorescent tube, remove the ballast
from the luminaire and replace it with the LED tube driver,
which should be an exact fit.
You just simply wire it up and insert the LED tube.
Ta da, you've beaten the ban.
You can get kits for both T8 and T5 fluorescents.
It's dimmable and it also works with emergency lighting.
And finally, a London landlord has been fined 100,000 pounds
after he turned the power off on two members
of the nobility.
Talha Abbasi pulled the plug on Count Niki Bolza
and Countess Christine Bolza
after they missed the rent citing cashflow problems.
The Austro-Hungarian aristocrats were suddenly plunged
into darkness in their apartment
on the fashionable Portobello Road.
The Countess said they had no lighting, heating
or cooking facilities for 19 days,
and she couldn't even read a bedtime story to her son.
Mr. Abbasi claimed that he switched the electricity off
on safety grounds
as he feared the meter had been interfered with.
Judge Stephen Hellman said he accepts the meter
was probably tampered with
by an electrician on the instruction of Count Niki
but he ruled that it didn't justify withholding power
to the couple.
He ordered Mr. Abbasi
to also pay 90,000 pounds in legal costs.
Apparently, that's enough to restore equilibrium.
Now, 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, for all your circuit protection needs,
they're like having an Italian star striker
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it's Lewden Palazzoli, and the best thing to come out
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it's Doncaster Cables, the home
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and one of the biggest lighting companies
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it's Irish lighting manufacturer, ROBUS,
home of great quality and innovative lighting products.
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 guesses 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 bumblebee and apocalyptic,
and the first person to get it right was Kev Fieldhouse.
So well done to you, Kev.
Make sure you click the link
in the show notes to claim your prize.
And also a special shout out this week
to Darron J. Knight who beat me to the punch by joking
that apocalyptic bumblebee was his new favorite band name.
You've been awarded a bonus prize for making me laugh.
So again, click the link in the show notes to claim that.
Coming up on our channel this week, we go back
to BASECs on our livestream show eFIXX TV with the legend
that is Aaron Walstow from Doncaster Cables
and representatives of BASEC to talk
to us about all things coppery and cable-y.
Will they end up #AboveAaron on the challenge wall?
Make sure you're watching Wednesday at 8 to find out.
Thanks for listening
to this episode of Electrical News Weekly.
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.