How To Avoid The EICR Crackdown

- Coming up on this week's news, the courts get tough on dodgy EICRs as a landlord is fined £45,000. An electrical contractor is asked to remove solar panels from a hotel as they could dazzle pilots landing at a nearby airport. And the electricians who battle giant waves to keep a port town safe. 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. The courts have doled out a hefty fine of£45,000 to a landlord who failed to licence his eight rental properties, and had electrical installation condition reports carried out by someone who was not believed to be competent. Peterlee Magistrates court heard that Kamran Adil ignored numerous written and verbal warnings about his properties in Blackhall County, Durham. He was served with a Housing Act Notice giving him 14 days to provide a copy of a valid electrical report, but he did not respond. The landlord was found guilty in his absence of eight counts of failing to licence a property, and one count of failing to provide a copy of a valid EICR. Adil was also ordered to pay costs of over £2000. The prosecution comes as the charity, Electrical Safety First publishes a best practise guide for safety standards in the private rented sector. It's designed to provide consistency in the conduct of thorough safety checks and how to report properly on any defects found. Although landlords must carry out installation condition reporting at least every five years, the consistency of the paperwork varies hugely. The guide is also notable for being the first of its kind to set out expected minimum standards, and is simply enough that even an extra terrestrial could understand it. There's been another big fine doled out this week, this time over the electrocution of an engineer while repairing an appliance in a hospital kitchen. Three companies were fined a total of £600,000 over the death of Craig Stocker, who was fixing a food disposal macerator at Bishops Wood Hospital in Middlesex, when the accident happened. The 36-year-old came into contact with a metal section of the machine that had been electrified as water had entered the unit's wiring. The macerator was not protected by an earth connection and there was no RCD on the circuit. Safety inspectors told Southwark Crown court that the Imperial machine company's design of the macerator had serious flaws. The earthing wire could be connected in a way that meant it was ineffective and the equipment was also permanently live. When the macerator was installed by McFarlane Telfer in 2013, they had not acted on the manufacturer's instructions, which required that a residual current device or RCD was fitted. BMI Healthcare, which runs the hospital, did not identify that the RCD had not been fitted and the machine was operated for several years before the incident occurred. BMI Healthcare now called Circle Health Group Limited of Cannon Street, London was found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £450,000 pounds and ordered to pay a further £106,000 in costs. McFarlane Telfer Limited of Maidenhead was also found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £70,000 and ordered to pay £106,000 in costs. Last year, the Imperial Machine Company Limited of Lincoln pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay £13,000. HSE Inspector Kevin Shorten said Mr. Stocker should have returned home safely at the end of his working day, but because of the failings of these three companies, he did not. As always, the team here at eFIXX would like to send our deepest condolences to the friends and family of Mr. Stocker. In other news, a Welsh hotel has been ordered to remove the solar panels from its roof because if is, they could dazzle pilots landing at nearby Cardiff Airport. Vale of Glamorgan County has told the Holiday Inn Express that the south facing panels require planning permission because of their proximity to the runway. Solar panels usually don't require permission, but do if they're within three kilometres of an airport. The council wants a technical assessment to ensure that the safe landing of aircraft is not affected by the sun reflecting off the installation, the hotel has now lodged an enforcement appeal against the council's decision and submitted an official planning application for the solar panels. The panellists on last week's eFIXX TV, including Grift Thomas and the team from ENW-Sponsored Sunsync, discussed solar panels, not their ability to distract pilots, but whether it's ever worth installing batteries without PV panels. Spoiler alert, the general agreement is that yes, batteries can be a clever investment on their own as you can store off-peak power and draw it down when prices are high. In fact, watch the video to learn how someone got paid a stonking £2.50 for every kilowatt hour they put back into the grid. And you'll also learn how much money we earned when we sold the eFIXX wheelie bin of Copper Offcuts. The link, as ever, is in the show notes. In product news. The new Wallbox Pulsar Pro is now shipping in the UK. It's aimed mainly at commercial buildings and it features pre-configured 4G connectivity and it's also wifi and Bluetooth enabled. Joe-3PO has just done his first instal. Take a look at how he got on. Again, the video link is in the comments. Essex firm's Samac Fixings has come up with a bit of kit to help keep solar panels well maintained. The solar guard is a flexible skirt, which prevents birds and debris from getting behind the panels and causing problems down the line. Each pack features 20 guard sections, four corner units, and 100 mounting clamps. Ovia has added new adapter plates for its range of emergency downlights. These are really useful where the cutout is larger than the diameter of the luminaire. With these plates, you can instal a 35 millimetre downlight in a hole of up to 75 millimetres, meaning you won't leave holes for rats or a tarantula to crawl out of. Before we go, a reminder that we want your stories, your recommendations, and your ideas to share with the friendly eFIXX community. We're especially interested in your experiences with electric vans as we're planning a special focus on them in a few weeks. So, have you made the switch to electric? How's it worked out? Tell us what you think of your EV motor, and if possible, send us a picture of you and your van. Also, now that the clocks have gone back, are you receiving more phone calls for extra lighting? Share some pictures of your instals or let us know if you've come across any new kit that's making your job easier. And finally, let's give a big shout out to a team of electricians who battled four metre waves to fix an electrical box at Stonehaven harbour. The folks from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks braved Storm Babette in full fury to reconnect power to the enclosures which supply electricity to the town's street lighting. They were called in after local residents spotted smoke coming from the units. The local fire service closed off the street while they did the necessary work to make everything safe. You can watch the incredible footage on the Press and Journal's website. Now, just before we get to your favourite 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 with all weather batteries, very much the boy scouts of the solar industry, it's Sunsync. Up next, for all your circuit protection needs. They're like having an Italian star striker in your Premiership team, it's Lewden Palazzoli. And for the ultimate experience in wireless sound and home cinema with their most powerful portable speaker yet, it's the home of the Roam Sonos. The best thing to come out of Yorkshire since stainless steel, it's Doncaster Cables, the home of EV Ultra and other groundbreaking and quality cables. Celebrating their hundredth 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. And finally, celebrating their 60th anniversary this year with an incredible range of equipment from EV charge points through industrial sockets and switches, to kit for explosive areas. Plus they supplied gear for a Campari factory, so they'll always have a place in my heart, it's Scame. 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 guests into the comments and we'll give out a goodie bag prize to the first to get the right answers. Last week's words were scapegoat and contortionist. And the first person to get both right was Mark just Mark, who I believe has won this before, and has had the right words on numerous previous occasions, but was always just beaten to the punch. So well done to you, Mark. Make sure you click the get involved link in the show notes 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 torque-calibrated arm.