Electrician Prosecuted Over Death of Tradesman

- Coming up on this week's news, an electrician goes on trial after a tradesman is electrocuted by a cooker hood, the explosion of a home battery sends shockwaves through the trade, and just launched, the exoskeleton that's designed to give you superpowers. Welcome to Electrical News Weekly in association with The Electric Heating Company, 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. An electrician has gone on trial in New Zealand after a tradesman was electrocuted by a cooker hood. Handyman Craig Johnston died after touching the metalwork of the appliance in a customer's kitchen in March, 2020. Now, health and safety chiefs are bringing a prosecution against Stephen Burton of Steve Burton Electrical for what it says are failures under the Electricity Act. WorkSafe New Zealand alleges that the earth conductor of the socket outlet installed by Burton was connected by way of a three core cable to the live rather than the earth pin at the wall switch. The organisation said that as a result, when the wall switch for the circuit to the socket outlet was turned on, the earth pin of the socket and in turn the exposed metal work of the cooker hood became live. WorkSafe says he failed to test the prescribed electrical work that he'd done or that the results of his tests were not understood. It says that Burton knew that a failure to test an installation in circumstances where the installation was or could become electrically live was likely to cause serious harm. One of the two charges carries a penalty of two years in prison and a fine of up to 48,000 pounds. The other charge carries a fine of up to 24,000 pounds. Burton denies all accusations against him and says he took all the actions and testing required of him in terms of work undertaken at the property. The trial continues at Nelson District Court on the South Island. Meanwhile, in Germany, investigators are uncertain about the cause of a home battery explosion, which destroyed a house and left it in danger of collapse. The incident involving the 30 kilowatt hour lithium iron phosphate cells has sent shockwaves through the renewables installation business. It appears that the homeowner and electronics technician installed three battery packs from Shenzhen Basen Technology in the basement of his home in the state of Hesse. He bought the units on the Chinese website, Alibaba, each had 10 kilowatt hour capacity and was housed in a 19-inch cabinet. The battery system was coupled with 15 kilowatt photo voltaic panels. Right before the accident, the battery state of charge was 90% and the voltage was 52 volts. After the blast at the basement, which housed the boiler and the battery system, was filled with white smoke. However, the homeowner says there were hardly any signs of fire near the battery unit and the inverters on the other side of the room looked like new. Some scientists think the blast could have been triggered by what's called thermal runaway. This is a phenomenon in which the lithium ion cell enters a self-heating state that's uncontrollable. Others have speculated that the electrolyte in the cells broke down and an internal short circuit ignited the gases. Sunsynk Chief Keith Goff says incidents like this are a reason to be cautious about buying batteries from overseas suppliers online. The house is now set to be demolished and the probe into the incident continues. The cause of a recent fire here in the UK in which two people died is being blamed on an extension lead. 91-year-old Mohammed Hussain and his 64-year-old daughter-in-law Naseem Khalid died in the blaze at a terraced house in Reading in April. A representative from Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service told the inquest that he suspected the cause of the fire was an electrical fault. Investigators found a large hole in the wooden floor indicating where the fire first started, along with the remnants of a six outlet extension lead. He stated that the outlet could have overheated or there may have been mechanical damage. There were three items plugged in, an electric oil-filled radiator, a television, and an airflow mattress. The outlet was severely damaged and many of the conductors were broken. A verdict on the deaths is expected later this month. In product news, the most eye-catching innovation this week is unquestionably the launch by German Film Festival of an exoskeleton. Yes, that's right, I said exoskeleton. The ExoActive is designed to give tradespeople extra power when their arms get tired. The company says that less physical exertion means greater effectiveness, better focus on the quality of the job, and more enjoyment of your work. You can regulate the required power on the exoskeleton so you get targeted support where it's needed. You wear the lightweight pack like a rucksack and it can be adjusted to your individual height. Festool says it's particularly suitable for overhead tasks. Users of the ExoActive have taken to social media to show them using it for tasks such as overhead drilling and installing downlights. Lewden has unveiled its first-ever consumer units in matte black. The company says it's responding to surging requests from installers and their customers for this on-trend finish. It's initially introducing the colour as an option to the best in class pro-consumer units range. Pre-populated with a type 2 surge protection device, the 100 amp main switch consumer unit with round knockouts is available in 13 module and 22 module enclosure sizes and eagle-eyed observes of the video version of the podcast may have noticed that there's a lovely example of one sitting in my bench in the background there. And speaking of Lewden, we've also relaunched a free training package that we made with them sometime ago on industrial socket outlets. Since that initial launch, Amendment 2 to the 18th Edition of BS7671 made some changes to the requirements for these and so we've given it an overhaul and brought it bang up to date. Click the link in the description to learn about what's changed. Sevadis has unveiled a promo for its 7.4 kilowatt MaxiCharges. You can earn up to 300 pounds worth of Amazon vouchers between now and the 15th of December. There's a 50 pound voucher for the first PowerPoint you instal, a hundred pounds for the next two, and 150 pounds for the following pair. For every step completed, you'll be entered into a prize draw to win a week in Las Vegas for two people. I've popped the link to the promo in the show notes. In Efixx News, we're delighted to announce that we've teamed up with a brilliant group of people called Together for Cinema. These folks bring a smile to the faces of children and their families living in hospices and care facilities across the UK. They do this by creating custom design cinema rooms. These provide a valuable haven for the kids, their siblings, and their parents to escape their challenges and enjoy the enchantment of cinema together. The organisation uses donated and secondhand AV kit and find suitable homes for them in facilities that lack the budget for something like this themselves, allowing them to watch anything from episodes of "Bluey" to the classic movie"The Tailor of Panama." Today, they have installed some 41 cinema rooms. If these were normal paid-for installations, they'd have cost just over 1 million pounds. You can check out the work on the link in the show notes. And finally, last week, we asked you for your experience of moving from a diesel or petrol van to an electric version. Efixx viewer Richard Walsh got in touch to share the first big trip in his brand new Citroen e-Dispatch, which has a 75 kilowatt hour battery. He's named the vehicle Angus Young after the front man from AC/DC. We see what he did there, Richard. Anyway, he drove from Dairy to the EZA's recent net zero event at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Belfast and back again. It's a 160 mile round trip. When he was just a handful of miles away from home, he received his first-ever low battery warning. Undeterred, Richard and Angus, we're on first name terms surely, made it safely home without having to stop. With just 8% charge remaining, Angus was reintroduced to his good friend, Happy Zappy. Whew. Richard's clearly a guy who doesn't suffer from range anxiety. Anyway, it sounds like a very positive first experience for this grasshopper of long distance electric van driving. If you too have an EV, let us know how you are getting on and don't forget to send a pic of yourself and your van. We also want your stories, your recommendations, and your ideas to share with the friendly Efixx community. Send us some pictures of your instals or let us know if you've come across any new kit that's making your job easier. 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 Sunsynk. Up next for all your circuit protection needs, they're like having an Italian star Stryker 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 Rome, 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 100th 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 dig out a goodie bag prize to the first to get the right answers. Last week's words were extraterrestrial and tarantula. And the first person to get both right was serial winner, EXFElectrician. So well done to you again. Click the get involved link in the show notes to register the win. Now, you may be wondering along with many others where exactly your prizes from previous wins are. Well, I've rested control of sending the prizes out for NW and we'll be looking after this personally. While in no way guarantees that you'll get the prizes any quicker, at least you'll all be angry at the right person from now on. Thanks for your patience, folks. They're on the way. 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 talk calibrated up.