Message From The Editor
Adequate training, a fair wage and a safe workplace
It seems to be a good recipe for attracting and retaining workers in our industry or in any industry. According to the Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada, more than 450 employees have been killed and 63,000 injured in the last 10 years. These injuries cost the Canadian economy nearly $19.8 billion annually in health care expenditures, reduced productivity, disability, and premature deaths. Read the story of an apprentice in this issue. According to experts, we will soon have access to secure high-speed Internet through our LED light bulbs, in the office lamps, ceiling lights, streetlights and rear lights of vehicles. We are starting to work on these standards. Find out more here. Good reading!
Line Goyette Managing Editor
linegoyette@kerrwil.com
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Changing Scene
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Safety
Ensuring Supervision and Training Standards Essential to Electrical Safety
Mark Graham joined the military at the age of 17 but after a few years he decided to pursue his dream of being an electrician. He was only three years into his apprenticeship when his worst nightmare came true. "I was working at a raw sewage plant running conduit while on an 8-foot wooden step ladder," he begins. "I had just finished drilling holes in the concrete ceiling slab to install strapping to hold the conduit in place. As I lowered the powerless drill it was parallel with the slotted ventilation holes on the 3000 amp 600 volt bus duct that was suspension-mounted on trapezes. The drill bit glided through the one of the slots, but the heat on the end of the drill bit melted through the rubber insulation jacket that wrapped the copper bus bars…"
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Human Resources
Creating a Safe Workplace for Women
By Mark Chapeski
I was recently at a high level discussion listening to several tradeswomen speak about their experiences working in a field dominated largely by men (5% of the trades workforce is made up of women in Canada). Quite frankly, I was appalled at what they had experienced in their professional lives. It got me thinking. Are there not some lessons we could learn from other areas of professional work that have created systemic behaviour change at the company level elsewhere? Having recently worked under the umbrella of an international environmental consultancy, the safety example came to mind.
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Lighting and Safety
Evaluating the Impact of Warning Lights on Roadway Worker Safety
Flashing warning lights are a common line of defence intended to help protect construction workers, police officers, firefighters, emergency medical service personnel, and others who work along the roadway from oncoming traffic. These lights need to capture drivers' attention yet not be so bright that they distract drivers from seeing workers in and along the roadway. In collaboration with Pennsylvania State University, the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute conducted a field study to measure drivers' ability to detect simulated workers adjacent to vehicles equipped with flashing yellow warning beacons while driving at night.
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Codes & Standards: Li-Fi
IEEE Task Force Works on Standard for Light Communications
By Kathy Pretz
Soon enough, experts say, we'll be getting secure, high-speed Internet access from our LED bulbs: in desk lamps, ceiling fixtures, streetlights, and vehicle taillights. The light-communications systems, relying on nanometer waves in the infrared and visible-light portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, are expected to transmit data generated by a microchip fitted into each LED bulb. Li-Fi technology needs no licensing, as it uses the unregulated light spectrum. However, a few issues must be resolved.
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Electrician Forum Brought to You by Schneider Electric
Electrical Industry Canada and the Electrician Forum Need Your Expert Knowledge
Last week we received this question from a Manitoba electrician, "I am doing a service upgrade/relocation from 100amp to 200. I was thinking about keeping the existing 100amp panel as subpanel. Do the 15amp breakers have to be changed to arc fault." Provide your expert opinion on this question and provide your insight on the biggest challenges or issues you face when installing loadcentres, breakers (CAFI, GFIs…) and other surge protection devices. The forum is designed for Canadian electricians to support each other and share their opinions and concerns. Join the conversation today!!
Go to the Forum HERE
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Q & A With Britech Electric Cable Heating Systems
What are some uncommon applications for heating cables?
We see many weird and wonderful uses for heating cables. We recently toured a liquid collection system at a municipal garbage dump that was freezing around the perimeter. The solution was to install heating cables in a one meter high serpentine around the pond to keep the ice from tearing the pond liner, thus avoiding an environmental disaster should the pond liner rupture.
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Survey Says
Electrical Engineering Services Median Salary by Province
Saskatchewan far surpasses other provinces, offering electrical engineers a median salary of $87,250.
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Survey Says From Recent Issues
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New Products and Solutions
Eaton Halo Home Mobile App
Eaton has announced expanded fixtures, controls and accessories for its Halo Home Smart Lighting System, designed to meet homeowners' safety and lifestyle expectations in the growing smart home technology market. The complete system offers Halo smart interior and exterior lighting, smart switches and accessories with an easy-to-use, downloadable Halo Home App. The Halo Home Internet Access Bridge gives the option to add Wi-Fi connectivity, which can enable remote access and integrate voice control capabilities with Amazon Echo or Alexa products. In addition, the new Halo Home Outdoor Security Smart LED Floodlight enhances home security measures by using dynamic switching to provide increased control over outdoor lighting through the Halo Home mobile app.
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String Lights from Standard
Standard's string lights were built to provide temporary lighting in tough environments, whether you need lighting for a wide area or to perform a specific task. The lights feature AWG cable for heavy duty applications and can be daisy-chained for longer runs. Each socket is designed with a hanging hole to allow the installation of Standard S-hooks. Once the project is complete, they can be easily removed and transported to another location. Standard's new line of temporary worklights, including string lights, a trouble light, LED flood lights, an LED temporary high bay ,and a wide variety of accessories.
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Brady Toughstripe
Brady's new ToughStripe Max floor marking tape is ideal for high-traffic areas where sliding or dragging forces often occur. Along with a thicker, more durable material, the tape also has tapered edges to minimize "pick points" and traffic bumps, making it especially useful in forklift and industrial vehicle areas. ToughStripe Max tape is also easy to apply and remove, and requires minimal tools for installation.
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Lumenpulse Cylinder Nano Pendant
The Cylinder Nano pendant is a high-performance LED luminaire ideal for commercial, residential or hospitality applications, and delivers up to 2000 lumens from a 70 mm diameter. The Nano pendant comes in a number of finishes, or can be colour-specified to fit your taste. Its accessories, beam angles, trims, and optics are easily and quickly changeable in the field. Beam angles include 5° extra narrow, 10° very narrow, 15° narrow spot, 40° medium faceted, and 60° wide faceted, asymmetric wallwash, and double asymmetric wallwash.
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Halo from Matthew McCormick Studio
Originally conceived as a graphical interpretation of effervescence, Halo is a series of bold lamps inspired by the soft warm glow of their illuminaire. This modular system allows the pendants to be suspended in a multitude of compositions as a range of elegant hanging art pieces. Machined and hand finished, they are available in brass, copper, nickel and 24 karat gold.
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EcoForm LED G2 Wildlife Friendly ECF-S-FWC
Philips' second generation Gardco EcoForm luminaire features narrow spectrum amber LEDs combined with special shielding, making it a wildlife friendly lighting solution. EcoForm features an innovative retrofit arm kit, simplifying site conversions to LED by eliminating the need to drill additional holes in most existing poles. Integral control systems are available for further energy savings. Choose from a variety of mounting options for new installs and retrofit applications, including retrofit mounting styles.
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From Our Last Issue
- Guide to the Canadian Electrical Code, Part I — Instalment 42
In this article: Section 86 — Electric vehicle charging systems. Rule 86-000 notes that this is a supplementary or amendatory section of the code and applies to the installation of the insulated conductors and cables and the equipment external to an electric vehicle that connect it to a source of electric current by conductive or inductive means, as well as equipment and devices related to electric vehicle charging.
- Montreal Undertakes One of North America's Largest Smart Lighting Projects
Montreal plans to initially convert more than 132,000 fixtures from HPS to LEDS distributed through 19 boroughs. Among this number, 85,000 streetlights are cobra head and the remaining 47,000 are decorative light. In 2016, 70% of these fixtures reached their end-of-life expectancy and needed to be replaced.
- Isabelle Lessard, Engineer Responsible for Urban lighting in Montreal — a Passion that Looks Beyond Prejudices
The title is a bit long, but it provides an immediate idea of the person behind the installation and management of intelligent lighting in Montreal, a project that has received awards and nominations since its commissioning and collected a following. Montreal is converting over 134,000 streetlights to LEDs and also implementing an intelligent lighting management system.
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Current Copper Prices
Monitor daily and 6-month $US prices for copper — the preferred electrical conductor for most categories of electrical wiring.
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The Electrical Stock Market
Track the stock market performance of 25 publicly traded electrical equipment suppliers and electrical wholesalers. Updated weekly.
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In The Next Issue
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