Shock tactics
About 1,000 accidents at work involving electric shock or burns – of which around 30 prove fatal – are still reported to the HSE annually. Brian Wall investigates procedures that could prevent needless deaths
Discovery machine
CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - the planet's most powerful subatomic particle accelerator - made it into the record books when, at 10.28am on Wednesday 10 September, in front of the world's hyped-up media, the first beam was successfully steered around its 27km ring. Then, just nine short days later, there was an incident that resulted in a large leak of helium into the beam tunnel, forcing shutdown of this amazing project until spring of next year.
17th edition wiring
The 17th Edition Wiring Regulations (BS 7671 2008) came into effect on 1 July, following publication back in January - and engineers and technicians are being warned that, this time, there are significant changes.
Arc-breaker on the way
New recommendations to install Arc Fault Detection Devices (AFDDs) in final AC circuits are aimed at cutting the chances of an electrical fi re in higher-risk locations. It’s early days, but the benefits of installing AFDDs are already clear, finds David Appleyard