in today's news we reveal the 10 most dangerous electrical blunders that contractors see in
people's homes we learn how full your order book is in our weekly eFIXX survey and we hear about
the electricians who detained our violent knife man using just cable ties welcome to electrical
news weekly in association with Schneider Electric whether you're listing 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 if you've got a story you'd like to feature in the news then
please click the link in the show notes for more information on how to do so and if you're watching
on YouTube you'll note that i'm on location in our Skipton studio this week and you may like to
know that an audio only version of this video goes out on all major podcasting platforms so you can
listen to us while in the van or on site and if you're already listening to the audio version why
not check us out on YouTube for some extra visuals as well a survey app this week has disclosed the
dodgy DIY doings that professional electricians are seeing in people's homes turns out almost half
of brits have acted as an unsuspecting saboteur by meddling with their homes electrics so electrical
direct the specialist retailer of electrical products asked hundreds of electrical contractors
to reveal the most common errors that people make and then rank them in terms of severity
at the very top of the league of shame is leaving plastic sheathed cable unprotected this clearly
exposes them to snagging and cuts which could lead to fires or even lethal shocks people living in
northern Ireland are most guilty of making this top clanger with 40 percent of electricians in
the country saying they see it regularly clearly householders need to engage an electrician to run
bare cable safely through conduit the second biggest mistake is leaving switches or outlets
loosely connected this can of course disrupt the power supply or worse allow live wires to wiggle
loose exposing them to fingers this means that there's a potential risk of electrocution or fire
other common howlers include cutting the wires too short recessing boxes behind the wall surface
and installing cable without a clamp homeowners also over stacking extension leads and electrical
outlets in a bid to plug in more and more devices they connect wires outside electrical
boxes overfill those boxes and even make the basic error a reversing line and neutral wires
DIYs often connect an RCD backwards and they install electrical outlets too close to water
in breach of regulations electrical direct chief Dominic Sanford has now warned that people should
stay away from certain electrical jobs that can lead to injuries we happily conquer and remind
householders that all work needs to be conducted by a qualified professional and be compliant with
all the latest changes to the 18th edition of the wiring regulations to help you keep up with
those changes schneider electric have produced a really useful Ebook this details the updates
to the 18th edition as well as the latest products to help installers comply the amendments include
changes to special location installations including solar and electric vehicle systems
prosumer low voltage electrical installations and the need for systems that can both produce
and store energy watch out for one of our videos this coming week on the subject of prosumers as
well installation requirements for fire risk buildings including escape routes and cabling
and the removal of the CRL calculation and the increased need for surge protection Nico Van Der
Merve vice president of home and distribution UK at Schneider Electric sees the changes as a great
opportunity for the electrical industry and he believes that the company's lineup of products
will support the trade in complying with the latest regs for our bite size take on amendment
two check out the video in the link above my head or in the description below speaking of Schneider
we're just going to pause the podcast for a moment while i say a big thank you to the company for
supporting today's show Schneider electric are the huge company that produce electrical
equipment across a number of fields and they're extremely supportive of the electrical industry
contributing to various good causes including our very own college connections campaign so
we're extremely grateful for their ongoing support okay on with the show another great reference
guide we're loving this week is a brilliant pocket guide app from the NICEIC this is free to download
and is available to all NIC certified businesses it contains a bank of no fewer than 35 technical
reference guides all updated to the second amendment of BS7671 where relevant there are also
really handy calculators for checking Zs values adiabatic equations conductor resistance and
length and design current it's fully searchable and is optimized for iPhones android phones
and tablets another set of innovations to help you do your job better has been unveiled by Draper
in fact the 103 year old family firm has introduced no fewer than 200 new models i know
this because the new thousand page catalogue landed on our desk last week with a thump
almost knocking over our giant sports direct mugs my highlights would be the new XP1000 range of VDE
compliant screwdrivers and pliers a series of heat guns and the bunker secure storage box which is
designed to keep your tools safe from thieves keeping your whole van safe from thieves is
another matter entirely in fact annual thefts are predicted to double in the next decade Londoners
are most often the victim and the top model targeted by thieves is the Mercedes sprinter 313
cdi two-thirds of break-ins include the theft of tools and the research shows that only one percent
are ever recovered due to their high resale value leaving a devastating impact on electricians
and their ability to service their customers and provide for their families and those customers are
asking for more and more work according to this week's eFIXX survey we asked how your business
outlook today compares to this time last year and it's looking pretty good 43 of you told us
that you're busier than usual with lots of work booked ahead one in five of you reported being
fully occupied now but don't have much forward bookings 13 of you disclosed that it's quieter
than usual with only some jobs coming up and one in 10 of you quoted the special saying this town
is coming like a ghost town that's the closest i'll ever come to singing in public
let's hope trade picks up for us all when people get back from their holidays in the meantime
here's some dates for your diary the green home festival opens on Monday the 8th of august as
part of the Edinburgh festival fringe this is a week-long series of events delivering practical
assistance and advice to help Scotland become a net zero nation it consists of 12 in-person and
virtual presentations on green topics targeting homeowners contractors housing associations
and local authorities Screwfix live is back in Farnborough after two years of virtual outings
the free to enter show is returning to Farnborough international exhibition and conference center
from Friday the 23rd of September to Sunday the 25th of September expect to see 170 top brands of
kit product demonstrations giveaways and lots more Screwfix will also host the final of the
Screwfix top tradesperson competition this annual event will see 10 skilled trade finalists go head
to head from across the UK and the republic of Ireland to be crowned Screwfix top tradesperson
2022 participants who register and visit the event will have the chance to put their hands
on an exclusive deals and a free goodie bag also in September is the UK's first event dedicated
to sustainable lighting called circular lighting live 2022 it's a one day conference and exhibition
taking place on Thursday the 22nd of September in central London i've put the links to all the
events in the show notes for you and this is the part of the show where we like to say hello to one
of our devoted followers this week we're saying what ho to Tyler Harris an electrical apprentice
who Gary had the pleasure of meeting on site recently he assured us that he's an avid listener
of electrical news weekly and we thought we'd put that to the test so if you are indeed listening
Tyler drop us a comment or tag us on social media and thanks very much for watching and following us
hopefully our content will help you on your career journey now to electric vehicle news
in last week's eFIXX news weekly we reported how Fuse the company which writes the operating
system for charging points had teamed up with EV comply the firm whose app helps installers
commission the chargers the idea was to make it easier to install and use those charges well this
week comes news of another strategic partnership as players in the EV world scramble to buddy up
jumptech the charger installation platform has announced a collaboration with the charger maker
Sevadis the idea is to provide electrical installers with an efficient and streamlined
charge point installation process the jumptech platform will simplify the install process for
Sevadis installers commercial customers and EV drivers as you may recall Sevadis partnered with
YES electrical as their strategic wholesale partner providing installers with access to
Sevadis full range of charging equipment and finally we turned to the tale of two heroic
electricians from Chichester Alex Carrillo's and Josh Halls of Impact Electrical Solutions were
working on site when they heard the desperate cries of a woman from inside a nearby flat
the duo entered the property only to be confronted with a man wielding a knife without a thought for
their own safety they tackled him and managed to wrestle the weapon out of his hands they
then had the problem of how to restrain him and protect the woman the answer they grabbed
some cable ties and tied him up until the police arrived the woman has since recovered from her
injuries detective constable Kat Wilkins says she believes that the electrical contractors
saved the woman's life she said that it was a violent and unprovoked attack and the aggressor
has been sentenced to 16 years in prison a high sheriff's award of 500 pounds will be given to
both of the heroes we do like a happy ending here at eFIXX coming up this week on our YouTube
channel we've got a great Q and A video shot on location at the Installer Show about the rise of
the prosumer we've got a fascinating interview with the good folks at Marshall Tufflex who are
just about to celebrate their 80th anniversary and we meet Victor Muhin the CEO of a business
that's like the Deliveroo of the electrical world plus we'll have the usual mix of shorts and social
media fun so stay connected for all that if you think you know the words that we've smuggled into
today's show pop your guess into the comments and we'll dig out a goody bag prize to the first ones
to get the right answers we had quite a number of guesses for last week's words Bill Dudeson
came volleying in first with emus and wallabies but they were a bit close together bill i like to
space them out a little bit regular commenter Sergio Fernandez guest lackadaisical while on
his way to the outer hebrides for work quite a journey that one Tom Taylor may have been guessing
my doctor who esque quote of illuminescent solar concentrator or he may have just enjoyed saying it
but either way it wasn't right and someone who simply goes by Dan stuck with that theme guessing
lackadaisical and doctor who but there was only one person in the comments who got both right last
week and that was Callum Clark who came in with lackadaisical and emu so very well done to you
Callum please make sure that you click the link in the description below or in the show notes to
make sure that you can claim your prize the good news is Joe 2.0 is back from his Turkish sojourn
where he informs me the food was glorious in fact he had a liver kebab which was the best he's ever
had apparently anyway the point is that prizes will be getting posted out now won't they Joe yeah
thanks for listening to this episode of electrical news weekly in association with Schneider Electric
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