many inspections of electrical installations are totally substandard and even fake says a shock report from the iet we reveal the technology that will create a boom in work for electricians and the results are in from the e-fix survey should you wrap your van or does it just attract tall thieves welcome to electrical news weekly whether you're listening 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 this week to save you the trouble and watch out for this week's challenge words i've been given two words to slip into the show so if you spot them point it out in the comments or tag us on social media our lead story is a truly shocking report from the iet which catalogs the inadequate and unsafe standard of many inspections that are carried out on wiring installations in the uk the organization says it's a scandal which is putting lives at risk it's been described as a race to the bottom with some businesses profiting at the expense of the public safety under the law landlords must have what's called an electrical installation condition report carried out on their properties every five years but some unscrupulous contractors are giving unsafe properties a clean bill of health and there are reports of so-called drive-by inspections where the properties given a pass mark aren't even visited insiders say the issue is about who has the right to call themselves an electrician the government has now ordered a review of the inspection regime but says the industry must take more responsibility for increasing competence in the sector so we've seen watergate partygate and now it seems we're embroiled in sparkygate if you're struggling to get your customers to understand the icrs and how they should be properly carried out check out the video we made in association with electrium on this very subject and direct your customers attention to it as this is exactly what it was made for and speaking of increasing competence in the sector that point was underscored with the news that the number of electrical apprentices has bounced up like a kangaroo on a pogo stick in fact figures from the institute for apprenticeships and technical education show that the intake of electrical apprentices has remained strong throughout the pandemic this echoes the value that employers place on apprenticeships as the preferred route for training the joint industry board is welcoming many of them to its registration programme which has been running for more than four decades the jib says the scheme sets the apprentice on the right track from day one it gives great support to their employer and it shines a light on those training providers who are supporting the highest standards in the industry one of those providers bradford college has gone as far as building an entire house for the electrical installation students to practice on the building is in the atrium of the college and was supported by ansel lighting as well as sponsoring the project ansel supplied its prism pro fire rated down lights for use in the kitchen and bathroom areas and it also donated flood lights and exterior wall lights city and guilds level one and two students can now use the area for wiring practice education is close to our hearts here at efix and we'd like to applaud ansel for supporting this program as it will make a world of difference to the learners make sure you go and check out the videos that we've made on the prism pro downlights as well making sure more of those students and apprentices are women has become a priority for the industry it's estimated that currently just one percent of electrical contractors are female now a new not-for-profit organization called the register of trades women is on the hunt for electricians to add to its roster it was set up by hattie hayson the founder of an all-female plumbing business now hattie has teamed up with specialist firm lcl awards to draw up an inclusivity charter for the industry hattie says it will help attract and keep women in the profession for lots more on apprenticeships and becoming an electrician check out some of our explainer videos including our college connection series i've popped a few links in the show notes one booming new area that young electricians are expected to work on is the installation of heat pumps in fact the eca is warning the industry to prepare for a surge in demand for the technology the growth is being driven by a new boiler upgrade scheme launched by the government this week the plan offers a grant of up to five thousand pounds for electrical contractors to replace traditional gas boilers with both air and ground source heat pumps the government has a target of six hundred thousand heat pumps installed by twenty thirty if you've never installed a heat pump before fear not training is available in fact stable l-tron has just launched a training program called heat pump pass it's an online video training course and it delivers a technical overview of how heat pumps work and the key considerations for their installation the course is broken down into 26 byte size segments and it takes five hours to complete once you register for it you have one month's access to finish the course again i've put the link to the free course in the show notes now when an electrician moves on in his or her career they inevitably consider setting up their own contracting business and that business usually involves a van of some description and the next decision is do i wrap my vehicle with my new business name and colour or not surprisingly more and more contractors are deciding not to brand their wheels in this week's efix survey in fact a majority said that they were concerned that a branded van would attract tall thieves four out of ten say they would believing that the business advantages would outweigh the risk before you go ahead though a friendly word of advice check out the recent video we made with the experts at signs express this explains the common mistakes with van wraps and vehicle signage and how to avoid them again the link is in the show notes it's not just tool theft that we need to be vigilant about with the soaring price of copper cable theft is becoming increasingly common just last week some 200 homes and businesses in a lincolnshire village were cut off from the internet when criminals stole thousands of feet of copper cable telecom's firm openreach said an astonishing four kilometers of cable was stolen from harvey last monday village resident dan lilly said it was the second time in a month that phones and broadband had been cut off there due to cable theft police said an investigation was ongoing but no arrests had been made they warned that vigilance was needed to stop cable thefts from leading to power and internet outages now if you were watching sport over the weekend you'll know that a power outage even delayed the opening of the monaco grand prix it was heavy rain rather than cable theft that got the blame for the failure though the outage caused the formula 1 starting systems to fail and contributed to a weight of nearly 45 minutes before the first rolling restart of the race was attempted mexican driver sergio perez went on to win the race for red bull the electrician who won the race to get their power back on remains an unsung hero some homeowners have also been suffering power failures lately but this time it's because they bought substandard electrical gadgets online dodgy extension leads phone chargers and so-called power savers are among the worst products for quality says the electrical safety first charity it's now calling on mps to close a loophole in the law which it says allows substandard and illegal electrical products to be sold through online marketplaces such as amazon and ebay one product category that's soaring in popularity on amazon is electric blankets as homeowners battle to stay warm in this chilly spring while keeping energy prices down octopus energy has now got in on the act the company has sent out some 7 000 free electric blankets to its customers helping them to reduce their energy consumption and lower their bills it says the cosy coverings cut energy bills by 19 that's an annual saving of 300 pounds for some homes octopus says the blankets are an incredibly efficient way to heat a person and save customers from paying to heat an entire home another easy way to save is to take part in the refer a friend program run by many suppliers electrical directors just launched its referral program which allows electrical contractors to earn discounts off their orders together with their friends by referring a friend both you and your mate will receive a discount off any of their 12 000 products in lighting news it's been announced that dali won the control protocol has now been scrapped in favor of the new dali ii version sounds a bit like the sequel to a film doesn't it that dolly too this time it's personal as well as lighting dali 2 certification covers bus power supplies as well as control devices such as application controllers sensors and other input devices the dali alliance said that daly 2 certification has matured sufficiently that it no longer sees the need to offer a registration scheme for daily one control gear and just in case you think i've spent the last few seconds talking about the surrealist painter with the melting clocks and the spindly legged elephants then please make sure you subscribe to our youtube channel for an upcoming series of videos on the dali control protocol in other lighting news leds have arrived at the enviro event stadium home to harrogate town football club it's all part of a 3.5 million pound investment in the club which will also see a brand new stadium the north yorkshire club have just completed their second season in the sky bet league two the plans also include an extension of the corporate hospitality area and a new bar in the home supporters end where they can celebrate their wins for more on led lighting check out our special lighting playlist again i'll pop the link in the show notes coming up on our youtube channel this week we'll be releasing some new q a content including a look at using conjure as a cpc and finding out if the conlock system from met pro provides earth continuity so stay tuned for that now last week's challenge words were woodpecker and bluetit so if you spotted them in our newscast congratulations if you think you know the words that we've smuggled into today's show pop your guess in the comments and we'll dig out a goodie bag price to the first to get the right answers and speaking of goodie bags last week we threw out the challenge to come up with a witty name for an electrical business and daniel lindner came through with our favorite he's recently started up his own business and has decided to go with the name power ranger which we think is genius reach out to us by clicking the link in the show notes daniel and we'll get something called sent out to you and all the best with the new venture there as always folks 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