- 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. First up for all your circuit protection needs, they're like having an Italian Star Stryker in your Premiership team, it's Lewden Palazzoli. And the best thing to come out of Yorkshire since stainless steel is Doncaster Cables, the home of EV-Ultra and other groundbreaking and quality cables. 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.