coming up on this week's news a drug gang posing as electricians causes an underground cable to  explode We Salute six of the best inventions by the trade for the trade and the electrician  who found love during an interview welcome to electrical news weekly whether you're listening  in the van on site or down at the wholesale counter I'm Joy Robinson and I've been through  the best of the electrical industry news to save you the trouble and this week's challenge word  competition is supported by our friends over at Brady printers they're exhibiting at the elect  show at Ali pal in London on the 27th and 28th of March you're running out of time to confirm your  slot there so book your tickets to see the great kit they've got on offer 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 organised crime gang posing as electricians caused an underground  cable to explode in a bid to steal electricity for a cannabis farm the incident which left one  of the men with serious facial Burns was one of many Reckless attempts to get free power for a  nationwide drug Enterprise worth £21 million wearing hi's jackets they dug up high voltage  underground cables and in some cases closed off roads in a Brazen operation to obtain free Power a  registered utility firm complete with branded Vans barriers and signage was used as a front company  it allowed the men to work in plain sight in total they conducted no fewer than 54 digs across  the country The Fearless criminals succeeded in connecting lots of buildings to the grid this way  including empty houses pubs shops a nightclub and in one case a disguised department store the gang  then filled them with cannabis plants the the stolen electricity was used to run grow lights  and ventilation systems for the illicit plants at Liverpool Crown Court Judge David Potter said the  men had shown little or no regard to safety the court heard the workmanship shown by the gang had  been slipshot and dangerous in quality electrical expert Andrew Churchman analysed the standards of  the work carried out by the gang he said that in his opinion the quality of cable laying jointing  and terminating of the cables was done to a very poor and in some cases dangerous standard their  live jointing was particularly bad and led to number of explosions one of which caused serious  Burns to the face of gang member Andrew Roberts also involved in the conspiracy was Scottish  Power engineer Colin White from Wavertree in Liverpool White stole equipment from the energy  company's Liverpool Depot to use in the illegal Works lawyers said the British crew stole the  electricity for Albanian gangsters who ran the Cannabis Farms Judge Potter passed sentence on  a total of eight men with terms ranging up to six years in prison for the ring leader  Stay Energy Safe the service run by Crimestoppers on behalf of the energy sector says it's seeing  more cases like this it points out that theft is not a victimless crime when criminals steal  electricity they create life-threatening risks for everyone around them their poor wiring and  overloaded circuits can lead to fires while exposed wiring can lead to electrocution stay  Energy safe says electricians are on the front line and can spot signs of energy theft before  anyone else by reporting meter tampering you can help break gangs involved in human trafficking the  exploitation of vulnerable people coerced into drug farms and illegal crypto mining reporting  is free and your anonymity is guaranteed I'll pop the link to the stay Energy safe website  in the show notes still in the courts a judge has fined an electrical contracting firm a third of a  million pound after an electrician was killed by a falling switch gear cabinet Alan Mulhall died when  the equipment weighing 760 kg fell and struck his head the incident happened in the plant room of St  Patrick's Hospital in Dublin in 2017 Mulhall was working on a project to upgrade a generator the  court was told that he wasn't wearing a hard hat at the time however an engineer report into the  fatality concluded that the hat would have offered no protection from his injuries Judge Martin Nolan  said the evidence showed the plan to transport and unload the switch gear was a totally misconceived  idea he said that anybody looking at it would say it was a very potentially dangerous exercise which  was fraught with danger the equipment should have been moved by mechanical means not manually Mr  Mulhall's employer John Fletcher limited of Port Arlington County leash pleaded guilty to breaches  of the Irish safety Health and Welfare at work act 2005 judge Nolan fined the company a quarter  of a million pounds and imposed a separate fine of £4500 on company director David Fletcher Mulhall's  Widow Vikki said that mistakes had cost her her husband and her children's father their lives had  been shattered and would never be the same again once again the eFIXX team would like to extend our  deepest condolences to the family and friends of Mr Mulhall another tragic and needless death now  Welcome to our electrical news weekly feature where we focus on a specific product area this  week it's all about you specifically inventions and Innovations by electricians for electricians  the sort of thing where you think how did I live without this before the eFIXX team has considered  and cogitated okay let's call it what it is argued and we've come up with what we reckon are the six  best Innovations created by the trade they're all designed to solve a real world problem in  the field first up is a safety device invented by Birmingham electrician and EFIXX 30 under  30 Award winner Neo Mosudisa Mosudisa once had to isolate a faulty water cooler but realised  there was nothing suitable that evening he came up with the idea for the spurlok it's a fuse spur  lockout kit which makes safe isolation easier a clear label warns occupants and shows who locked  out the unit it's made from tough ABS plastic and complies with the 18th Edition electrician  Ben Grant came up with the idea for the lighthouse control system while working on a lighting project  in a customer's house he was looking for a way to tidily contain a number of wireless controllers  the lighthouse unit contains an isolator a series of pre-installed Wireless receivers  and a manual override switch all wrapped up in an elegant housing it has quick fit connections  so you don't have to laboriously wire up each individual receiver in fact you don't even need a  screwdriver you can connect to your phone and set switching and dimming scenes also developed by an  electrician is a simple new device for speeding up the installation of lighting pendants pull  cords and smoke alarms in fact it helps attach anything to plaster board that requires one or  two screws Chumpfix is a perforated piece of plastic about the size of a small ruler you  push it up through a 25 mil hole usually the same one for the cable and then flatten it by pulling  the handle you then screw through the plaster to reach one of its many holes it means you don't  have to use wall plugs and it helps to spread the weight of the light across the ceiling it  also minimises the risk of plasterboard failure caused by drilling near the edges and we've all  been there this Innovation is now available in CEF and all good wholesalers the Stanic Duo has been  invented by electrician Michael Gavaghan it's a simple idea that's definitely in the why didn't  they think of this before category the stanic duo is a special socket outlet for cookers it  combines a cooker Flex outlet plate with a 13 amp socket so it's perfect for both wired and plugin  ovens and Hobs so you can hook up your cooker into the plate and plug in the hob ignition too  it's compatible with cable sizes up to 10 mil and features m3.5 screws for secure connections  and just a sweet little point the name Stanic comes from Michael's two daughters Stacy and  Nicole what a lovely touch that is another invention we love at eFIXX is the electrismo  time-saving adapters these make it super easy to screw a face plate onto a backbox they deal with  the issue of fiddly screws damaged threads and even pierced wires the funnel at the top of the  adapter guides the screw in it also protects the screw from inadvertent contact with the internal  cables avoiding Earth faults and short circuits use the white version if the original thread is  intact and if you've got a box where the original lug is banjaxed not this week's challenge word by  the way use the red version as this contains a threaded brass insert making it super easy  to do the socket up a much better solution than shoving in a toothpick and trying to get the screw  to bite last but definitely not least is a device for locating the cables you've installed in the  ceiling the cableboss CB01 secures the position of the twin and Earth between cable joists this  means they can't be moved by the guys doing the insulation or ceiling or by the plasterers using  the mobile app you can also record the location so you'll never lose a cable again the CB02 and  CB03 are designed for commercial installations and are a super quick method of providing fixings for  cable runs and conduit our final product this week wasn't developed by an electrician but we had to  include it because it's simply awesome and it's certainly going to be loved by them the WagoBox  Pro is a junction box if Carlsberg made junction boxes it's designed to handle multiple conductors  making it great for extending ring final circuits loop in loop out lighting and connecting twin and  Earth to flex we love it so much we gave it the ultimate honour of a dedicated video starring The  One and Only Rick the link as always is in the show notes where you'll also find links to the  videos we've done on some of the other products in this week's product Focus that's our electrical  news weekly Roundup of products we think deserve some attention next week we're going green for  Renewables the results of our question of the week are in as part of the free training package  on safe isolation that we made in association with Megger we asked you if a 20 amp double pole switch  complying with BSEN 60669-1 could be used as an isolator the answer is no it can't on YouTube a  less than scintillating 21% of you got it right on LinkedIn things were a little better and 37%  said no alarmingly over half of respondents on both platforms thought it was okay it's not I'd  recommend the training to anyone who's feeling Rusty the link of course is in the show notes  and before we go a bit of a budding love story in February 2025 a Queensland electrician named  Mitch participated in an interview conducted by Olivia from the job search app get ahead during  the conversation the interview took an unexpected and delightful turn when Mitch asked Olivia out  on a date to which she enthusiastically agreed the video of this interaction went viral amassing over  1.6 million views with viewers expressing Keen interest in the budding romance following the  interview Mitch and Olivia enjoyed a successful dinner date and hinted at Future outings capturing  the hearts of many who followed their story young love if anyone watching knows Mitch or Olivia let  us know how it goes hopefully they're so happy they're doing spontaneous jazz hands now our usual  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 over the next few weeks we'll be featuring  Renewables and Fire Safety and Security so send us pictures of your installs or let us know if you've  come across any new kit that's making your job easier or any products that you think deserve a  shout out and 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 and speaking  of solar with manufacturing powered by a massive 250 megawatt solar PV array they're literally the  greenest test instrument maker in Europe both physically and ethically it's KPS now are you  a bit of a control freak motor control that is if so with huge stocks in excellent service check out  Crompton Controls as they said to me in a recent conversation if we don't have it then we can build  it with their new award-winning Lumo consumer unit and offering Complete product support from their  highly train team it's CPN Cudis don't forget to use the code eFIXX30 to claim your 30% discount  on top quality light fittings from Phillips and Ecolink download the Lumxpert app today and make  your life easier and less expensive it's the light of Our Lives Signify and 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 click the links in the show notes to find out more about these  great Brands if you think you know the words that I've smuggled into this week's show pop your guest  into the comments 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 supported by our good friends at Brady printers don't forget to book your tickets  to join them at the elex show at Alexandra Palace on the 27th and 28th of March last week's words  were snazzy and doodle and no one at all got them both which means all bets are off and I  can do whatever I want with the competition so this week I'm going to give the win to blippy 25  58 because you got one of the words right and you told us that you loved us well we love you  too blippy and to prove it you've won so 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 make sure you're  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