NEW: Electrician computer game to rival Call of Duty

coming up on this week's news a coroner rules  that an electrician who worked at the government's   secret spy HQ in Cheltenham died from exposure to  asbestos Legrand launches a consumer unit which   communicates with your phone in real time and the  gaming industry unveils its latest Blockbuster   computer game to rival FIFA it's called I kid you  not electrician simulator welcome to electrical   news weekly in association with myenergi 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 as always if you think  you've spotted the two words I've been challenged   to slip into this week's show comment them below  for the chance to win a prize a coroner has ruled  

that an electrician who was regularly exposed  to asbestos when he worked at sites including   gchq in Cheltenham died from an industrial  disease the death last month of Nigel Barnes   of Huggle Gloucester was due to a form of lung  cancer called mesothelioma electricians are 16   sometimes more likely to die from this than  the general population and the only known   cause is asbestos exposure Barnes worked for the  electrical contracting firm Williams Brothers in  

the 1980s and in a statement made in July last  year he revealed that his job was to fit light   and fire alarms into full ceilings where he used  a small handheld drill to cut two inch holes as   he cut into the ceiling just from asbestos sheets  would fall on him and he couldn't help but breathe   it in later in his career he worked on the gchq  development where he was exposed to asbestos in   the roof of Nissan Huts Barnes was never warned  about the dangers of the substance and he was  

never provided with a mask he said that it  was impossible to avoid the dust Barnes made   a compensation claim which was settled before he  died and now the court has confirmed that he did   in fact die from an occupational hazard the team  here at efixx send our deepest condolences to Mr   Barnes family and there's a link to further  information and help about mesothelioma in   the show in product news knipex has come up  with a super useful multi-purpose tool that  

cuts strips and crimps the next strip can cook  cable of up to 10 square millimeters it can strip   both flexible and solid conductors from 0.0 3  squared millimeters up to 10 square mil and it   automatically adapts to the cable's cross sections  you use the adjustable length stop to ensure   consistent stripping lengths and there's also  a fine adjustment to get it perfect the ratchet   crimping mechanism guarantees the exact pressure  so you get a consistent crimp each time it offers  

fast and even Square crimping for individual wire  ferals in accordance with din-46228 parts 1 and   4. the next trip is available from wherever you  get your tools and we've done a full video review   of this clever bit of Kit so have a watch of that  to see what all the brouhaha is about Legrand has  

launched what some are calling a consumer unit  from the future the cx-3 smart electrical panel   allows homeowners to view what's happening in all  the circuits in their property and control them   in real time using a smart smartphone or voice  assistant such as Amazon's Alexa they can see   the power consumption of individual appliances  and turn them on and off they can also see the   actual cost of energy used by each device thanks  to the app's built-in electricity tariffs they  

can schedule their lights home appliances and  electrical equipment directly in the app for   instance they can set a daily schedule which  automatically opens the blinds in the living   room in the morning or they could program the  charging of an electric vehicle to get the best   tariffs they can even bring load shedding  into the home for the first time this is an   algorithm which can intelligently shut down high  energy appliances to prevent power failures and  

the secret to all this cleverness is a technology  developed by a startup called natatmo The Breakers   have a special smart module which uses zigbee  technology to talk to a Gateway unit which in   turn connects to the Wi-Fi Schneider Electric  meanwhile has taken sustainability to a new  

level with a range of switches and sockets which  unveiled at a trade show in Germany last week the   Merton mpure ocean plastic range is made from 50  and regular plastic and 50 percent from discarded   Fisherman's Nets the company says that millions  of tons of plastic waste end up in the sea every   year and it wants to do its part to clean it  up the Nets are collected from beaches and   all along the coastline and even from fishermen  themselves the Nets are cleaned sorted shredded  

and then the plastic is processed into a recycled  polymer this is then used by Schneider to make   the wiring devices which include switches dimmers  and sockets also out this week is a new computer  

game which developers hope will be a blockbuster  franchise to rival FIFA it's available on Xbox   PlayStation and PC and it's called electrician  Simulator the game revolves around 30 exciting   story based missions these include repairing an  electrical socket fixing a kitchen appliance and   there are workbench jobs where you conduct repairs  on realistically recreated electrical items during   the action you're in a race to acquire the  various tools you'll need there are over 50  

to get including various screwdrivers a cable  detector a soldering iron and a multi made data   you must work your way up the ranks and accept  whatever jobs you are given and as you become more   Adept the jobs become larger they pay higher and  you'll be required to juggle more tasks at once   the ultimate task is a complete rewire of a house  it's like they've taken our lives and put it into   a computer game the software company behind the  electrician simulator says the game is something  

entirely new in the gaming industry the head of  Take It studio Dorian Lowe says that the game is   designed to be relaxing and fun so nothing like  the life of an electrician at all and the first   review of electrician simulator is in games  editor Daniel Waite says it's a fun concept   and has awarded it three out of 5 Stars I have  genuinely already bought it and will be trying   it out over the next few weeks once I figure out  the controls and all that Malarkey if you try the  

game let us know how you get on in the comments  and finally a shout out to a former electrician  

Darren Cunningham recently down tools and left the  trade to take up a new career as a hairdresser at   just 20 years old he has swapped his screwdrivers  for straighteners and hasn't looked back in fact   Cunningham is aiming to Be A Cut Above the Rest  taking on the challenge of becoming the best in   Britain for a new TV show Cunningham who co-owns  a hair salon in Leicester is one of 11 stylists   vying for the crown in e4's the big blowout all 

the very best there Darren the hair industry may   have taken one of our own but it's also given back  in the shape of Dan McAdam McAdam used to sell  

shampoo to hairdressers but quit when he learned  that his electrician mate Ross was drowning in   paperwork and didn't even have time to answer his  phone so McAdam set up the rewired agency which   helps electrical contractors take care of their  admin and it even answers the phone for them check   out our video launching this week which involves  secret phone calls that Gary made on a burner   phone to a variety of electricians including one  in a town called little snoring 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 cacophony and   flummoxed and the very first person to get both  right was Mr witters eight so well done to you sir   click the link in the show notes to claim your  prize that's it for this week but keep watching  

our YouTube channel because we've got some  excellent content coming up including Gary's   paying a visit to Newark College on Monday as part  of his college connections tour we take a look   at a very clever three-phase connector from scami  that allows you to change the direction of a motor   and we've got a couple of Q and A's on conduit  and car Parks so make sure you stay tuned for   all of that thanks for listening to this episode  of electrical news weekly in association with my  

energy 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 talk calibrated arm