- Coming up on this week's news, an electrician with a broken leg is told to keep on working. Police make a series of arrests in the fight against copper gangs targeting EV charges, and the Labour Party promises to recruit thousands of electricians if it forms the new government. Welcome to Electrical News Weekly in association with Solar Trade Sales, your easy one-stop shop for all things solar. 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 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 who broke his leg in a work accident, has been told by the government to keep working in another job. The Department of Work and Pensions told Martin Ingram Flowers to quit his 40,000 pound contracting job after he applied for help. They ruled that the tradesman from Newport in Wales was fit to get employment in a desk job. Flowers had joined a building firm in Wolverhampton just three weeks before he had his accident in January. His bosses said they welcome him back in July when he's expected to be declared fit to work by his doctor. Flowers has been receiving statutory sick pay since January of 415 pounds a month. He also put in a claim for Universal Credit to help pay his bills, but the 60-year-old was left stunned when assessors from the Department of Work and Pensions deemed him fit to work. When he told them that he couldn't work on a building site in crutches, the civil servant suggested that he get a role in an office. Flowers also claims the DWP effectively told him to lie. That's because they advised him not to tell any future employers why he left his current post. The Department of Work and Pensions has now said, sorry. It blamed the independent agency, which carried out Martin's assessment. A spokesperson told the press that it apologises to Mr. Flowers for the error and any distress caused. Job centre staff have now contacted Flowers directly and the issue has been resolved. One of this week's challenge words is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious by the way. I think the Challenge Word Committee drank their lunch this week. All the best with the spelling. The other word might be trickier to find. In other news, the Labour Party is promising to create 650,000 new jobs for electricians, plumbers, engineers, and technicians in its first term if it forms the new government. It claims it would kickstart a skills revolution with a new generation of technical excellence colleges across the UK offering more apprenticeships and training tailored to local jobs. It's also promising to upgrade the National Grid to handle the challenge of renewable energy. A new public company called Great British Energy will invest in clean energy projects across the country. The party also wants to address grid connections. Shallow Chancellor Rachel Reeves says that around 200 billion pounds worth of projects are stalled until the 2030s because they can't get hooked up. The promises come as the Electrical Contracts Association called on its members to make the skill shortage an election issue in their area. ECA head of Public Affairs, Jane Dawson says the organisation has been pressing policy makers to address the shortage of electricians. The ECA says the skills pipeline is broken and that fewer than 10% of those in classroom-based electrical courses progress into an apprenticeship. Another 40,000 individuals practising as electricians or electrical fitters don't the right level of qualification and they need to upskill. They say that electricians are crucial to society and the economy, but for too long have been overlooked by government. The ECA is now calling for funding for apprenticeships and for a massive upskilling programme in green Technologies. Speaking of upskilling, last week's question of the week came from our free training package made with the Luceco Group on electrical design and asked, calculating design current for a resistive single phase one kilowatt load in the UK will give you which of the following values? The correct answer is simply to divide the power by the voltage, and that gives you around 4.35 amps and a very respectable amount of people got it right on YouTube at 87%, but LinkedIn just squeaked it with 88%. Interestingly, lots of comments on LinkedIn getting the right answer for the wrong reason. Might be worth checking out the free training package on the subject even if you think you know it well. Also, great news is that part two of the electrical design CPD is on the way. I'm working hard on that behind the scenes, so stay tuned for that in the future. Now, earlier this month, we did a special report on the copper crime wave that's sweeping the country. We revealed that for just one rapid charger provider, there were 174 thefts of EV charging cables from 27 sites since November, the rising cost of copper is being blamed. Both individuals and organised crime gangs are involved say insiders. This month, however, police say they're starting to turn the tide, they've made a series of arrests across the country. In Rotherham, a woman and man were taken into custody by officers responding to reports of cable theft from a charging station in a McDonald's car park. In Basingstoke, two men were arrested on suspicion of burglary after police discovered a large quantity of copper cable. And in Sandwell in the West Midlands, two suspected copper thieves were detained following a foot chase. Charging station firm InstaVolt says it wants to deter cable robbery in the first place. It's installed CCTV at its sites and stepped up the use of security patrols. It's even using smart water technology across the network to stop theft and vandalism taking place at charging stations. In product news this month, Martindale has unveiled a PAT tester, which it says is designed to simplify the process of assessing portable appliances. The compact HandyPAT features a single button. This activates either a full class one, class two, or lead test without any further interaction needed by you unless a failure is encountered. You can perform a 500 volt insulation test quickly, and you can flip between test voltages of 250 volts and 500 volts easily. This is handy when testing kit with surge protected circuits such as sensitive IT equipment that requires a 250 volt test. Now, quiz time, are they a lamp or are they a luminaire? A new class of lighting product is gaining in popularity, but no one's sure what to call it. These tubular LED fittings are aimed at offices where the client wants to upgrade from fluorescent lamps to LED. The trend is being driven by the ban on fluorescent lamps. The units are designed to fit into the slots previously used by T5 and T8 fluorescent lamps, but crucially, they don't take the power from those terminals. Instead, they're wired up to remote drivers in the ceiling. In this way, they avoid the technical problems that LED tubes encounter in different light fittings. Technically, the new products are luminous tested to the relevant standards, and they have features such as double insulation. Examples include the Recess from COCO lighting and the Revolve from Light Projects. Shelly has begun shipping generation three of its Mini Relay, which it says is the smallest relay switch in the world. It's designed to be installed in back boxes, behind switches, and in ceiling roses. It has built in wifi, so you don't need a bridge. You can control it with Shelly's free app or compatible platforms such as Alexa. You can also use Bluetooth. The relay is rated for a current of 16 amps. And finally, a big shout out to our esteemed colleague, Rick. He's about to undertake the daunting Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge for the electrical industry's charity. This involves tackling three intimidating mountains in the Pennines. All of them are around 700 metres high. The best bit, he has to do it in under 12 hours. Gordon, who's done the challenge himself, has some words of comfort. I'm gonna do my best Gordon voice now for this next bit. He says, "Oh, there is a tuck shop, a burger van, an ice cream stop, and two pubs on the route where they do a nice Wensley Neil plowman's." I bet Rick will be looking forward to it now. The electrical industry's charity sees up to 30 new cases a week, sometimes more. The vast majority are about money concerns as you'd expect, but mental health sessions continue to be the most used service it provides. If you'd like to help Rick and this brilliant charity, I've pop the link to his donation page in the show notes. And lastly, a reminder that we're in the market for your stories, your projects, and your recommendations as we'd like to share them with the wider eFIXX community. June's nearly up, but in July, we're shifting our focus to data and networking and fire and security plus all the new innovations that are coming into the industry. Send us 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 brand that pride themselves on keeping people close to what's important. With the world's most recognisable doorbell chime, it's Ring. 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 if you want to pump up the jam and join the home heating revolution, then it's got to be heat pumps from Daikin. And if you want to get smart, but dunno where to start, relax. Whether you need whole home entertainment, commercial grade infrastructure, or anything in between, Snap One offers countless solutions for connected homes and businesses. Are you looking for easy to instal modular lighting solutions and emergency lighting products designed by specialists in the industry? They're ready and waiting to light up your life. It's Kosnic. The best thing to come out of Yorkshire since stainless steel, the home of EV Ultra and other groundbreaking and quality products, it's Doncaster Cables. And if you want a lesson on how to reinvent a commodity product into a stylish but discreet feature, then look no further than D-Line Trunking. If you want to get your cables organised and tidied away in any situation, they've got a solution. 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. And if you think you know the words that I've smuggled into this week's show, pop your guests into the comments. We'll take all the correct guesses and select one at random to be the winner of an eFIXX goodie bag prize. Answers submitted after about lunchtime on the Thursday after release will not be entered into the draw. Now let's reveal the winners of last week's challenge word competition. The words were cowabunga and mozzarella. Apparently the Challenge Words Committee spent the weekend watching cartoons from the nineties about mutated reptiles, and we had another record breaking number of people get it right this time with a bit more involvement from LinkedIn. Come on, Facebook viewers. Let's get involved. Anyway, this week's winner is PaulSmithies-yz1nu. Well done Paul. Make sure you click the link in the show notes to claim your prize. Thanks for listening to this episode of Electrical News Weekly in association with Solar Trade Sales, your easy one-stop shop for all things solar. 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.