- Coming up on this week's news,
the dangers of installing lightning conductors
are in the spotlight this week,
as an electrical contracting firm
received a fine of £120,000 over the death of an employee.
Australia says it's coming to steal UK sparks
with the promise of top wages; and generation wars,
young electricians slam the standards of old school boomers.
Welcome to "Electrical News Weekly",
in association with Scame.
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 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 enter prize.
The perils of installing lightning conductors
are in the spotlight this week
after an electrical contracting company
was fined £120,000 over the death of one of its employees.
PTSG Electrical Services Limited
of Castleford, West Yorkshire
was slapped with the hefty penalty
after dad of one, Dennis Vincent,
plunged to his death from an office block in Warrington.
Vincent and a colleague were using ropes
to install the lightning conductor
to the front of the building.
He was lowering the access gear from the roof,
using a rope attached to a frame at roof level
and a handrail at ground level.
As he did so, both he and the frame
fell from the roof to the ground.
The incident happened in February 2021
at Palmyra House in Warrington,
which was being converted into flats at the time.
A probe by the Health and Safety executive
found that PTSG Electrical Services
failed to adequately assess the risks
associated with this work.
The company gave little consideration
to the work at Height hierarchy of control,
and it provided personal protection gear
over better methods, such as scaffolding or a cherry picker.
In addition, the firm hadn't made a plan
for getting the rope access kit
onto and off the roof safely,
and it provided no instructions to the men.
As well as the fine, Wirral Magistrates'
ordered the company to pay over 5,000 pounds in costs.
HSE inspector Sarah Andrew said
that the reason this young dad and husband
did not return home on the 24th of February, 2021,
was because of the failings of his employer.
She said the incident could easily have been avoided
by better planning of the work.
Again, what an absolute tragedy that is,
our sincerest condolences
to the family and friends of Mr. Vincent.
In other news, Australia has stepped up its campaign
to persuade British electricians to move down under.
In fact, a delegation of Aus officials
has arrived in the UK, and it's openly stating
that it's here to steal electricians.
Western Australia Minister, Paul Papalia,
is conducting a tour of London, Edinburgh,
Bristol, and Dublin to find tradesmen
to fill skill shortages back home.
He's offering higher wages, a lower cost of living,
a world class health system, and a sunshine lifestyle.
Papalia claims that the salary
of a kosher electrician in Western Australia
is 172% higher than the UK.
They earn, on average, over a 100 000
Australian dollars a year, that's £63,000.
But reports suggest that certain electrician roles
in Australia can earn much more than this,
such as in the mining sector.
In the UK, according to the latest statistics,
employed electricians earn about 40 grand
while self-employed ones average at just over 50 grand.
Papalia says it's not just about wages,
he claims Western Australia
is one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
Clearly he hasn't been to Skipton,
the Sun has even been known to come out
on the rolling Yorkshire countryside, every now and then.
Anyway, I've popped the link
to the Western Australian government website
in the show notes.
I've gotta be honest, this does sound pretty good actually,
I wonder if they need a middle-aged,
balding presenter with clapped out knees over there,
might be filling that form in after the show.
But not all is sunshine and Skittles
in the Australian electrical contracting business,
in fact, generation wars have broken out down under
after an upcoming breed of spark
fired a broadside at what they term "old school boomers"
for the standards of their work.
Adelaide electrician Lorenzo Johns
is typical of the young bucks.
He says he's tired of dealing
with spaghetti wiring inside consumer units.
He blames the practices
and workmanship of older tradesmen,
and claims there's a huge difference
between the quality of work done nowadays
compared with previous decades.
He claims his generation
tries to be super neat with its cables,
but he describes every unit he sees
that was wired by old timers as a dog's breakfast,
and he has warned older electricians to get a grip.
In another provocative broadside,
fellow spark and company boss, Joe Dionne,
told social media that his Gen Z apprentice was better
than all the boomer cowboy spark is.
He said he may avocado on toast and drink espressos,
but he can still wire a switchboard better than boomers.
The Daily Mail newspaper
has now picked up on the row
among the plain speaking Australians
and it raises the inevitable question,
is there a generation gap here in the UK,
but we're all too polite to point it out.
The Daily Mail clearly needs to check out
the comments on our YouTube videos.
Anyway, let us know what you think in the comments,
politely.
And just to interject with some happier news for a moment,
time is nearly up on our competition
to win a Virgin Experience Day.
All you've got to do to be begin with the chance is
complete our free training package on Dado trunking,
made in association with Marshall Tufflex
by the end of February.
The options you can pick from for the day are awesome,
so make sure you get that done
as quickly as you can
because I will be ringing the bell like Quasimoto
to call time on that competition tomorrow.
Now, following our recent story
about the rise in meter tampering
due to the cost of living crisis,
a spate of incidents around the country
have been reported to the authorities.
National Grid was called out
to the Lark Nest Pub in Nottinghamshire
after painters discovered smoke coming from the meter.
Engineers found three bypasses at the site,
identifying them as fire risks
before disconnecting the property and making it safe.
It's understood that four tenants lived above the pub,
the pub landlord at the time said
he had no knowledge of the bypasses,
saying he had not been to the property for a long time.
Nottinghamshire police say
they are continuing their inquiries.
A grandmother in Rochdale has also admitted
to having her meter bypassed.
She paid a handyman £30
to fit a loop of cables past the device.
The granny says she couldn't pay her £134 energy debt,
and confirmed her local paper
that she's now getting all her electricity free.
She knows it's illegal, but says she has mouths to feed
and is not the only person in the area doing it.
In fact, police responded to 3,600 reports
of meter tampering last year.
In product news this week,
GoodWe has unveiled a hybrid solar inverter
for residential use.
The ES G2 series is a single phase,
low voltage hybrid inverter
that's designed to connect to solar PV installations.
It has rated outputs between three and six kilowatts,
it has automatic switching to backup power mode
in less than 10 milliseconds when connected to a battery
if there's a power cut,
ensuring that appliances remain working.
Homeowners can connect to it over wifi, LAN, and 4G,
meaning they can monitor the system at all times.
A study is shown that a light with GU10 lamps
may have a lower environmental impact
than one with a built-in LED source.
The surprising finding comes in a survey
prepared by the engineering advisor Arab.
It worked out that over a lifespan of 27 years,
the lamp option had a significantly lower
global warming potential
than the one with the integrated module.
The survey assumed a lifespan
of both fittings of 50,000 hours,
five hours use today, and four lamp changes.
The key difference appears to be
the embodied carbon of the driver
inside the integrated light.
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.
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And the best thing to come out of Yorkshire
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Big thanks to you both,
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 flip-flop and wigwam,
the Challenge Word Committee
is definitely upset with me about something at the moment.
The first person to get them both right
was Kim Spence Jones, so well done to you.
Please click the link in the description below
to claim your prize.
Coming up across all our social media platforms this week,
the big news is the launch of another free training package
to help you with the CPD.
This time we're talking how to maximize the efficiency
of your lighting installations in order to win business
and save your customers money.
We've also got a couple of Q&As,
including one on the difference between 6KA and 10KA MCBs,
with some interesting information in there
that I didn't really know about until doing some research.
And Gary takes a look at how easy it is
to modify the ToughLED Pro Batten light fitting from JCC,
so keep your eyes peeled for all of that.
Thanks for listening to this episode
of "Electrical News Weekly" in association with Scame.
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.