Electrical Industry Articles and Stories

The rapid advancement of technology and the growing need for energy efficiency have transformed the way businesses handle energy management. Smart metering and monitoring has proven to be a game-changer in the commercial and industrial sectors.

In the food processing plant where I cut my electrical teeth, there were ceiling drops for sticker guns to label bagged product. Some of the workers complained about getting shocked off the stainless still bins that held the product. Adding inline GFCIs helped (although some still complained, even when no voltage was present).

When working as an electrician in a processing plant, I was often called in to work on renovations, new area construction, and emergency repair scenarios. Often there wasn’t permanent power available, so temporary power using extension cords was necessary to power up tools and equipment for the job.

If you’ve been following business headlines (or your 401K’s monthly statements), you’ve likely heard about a lot of layoffs and other cost-cutting measures at some of the biggest tech companies. After flying high during the pandemic, when many of us were living significant parts of our lives online, these firms are finding they might have been overly optimistic that the growth would continue once Covid’s worst days had passed.

Whole-home surge protection has become a much bigger issue for residential electrical contractors in the last year as local authorities have begun adopting the 2020 edition of the National Electrical Code (NEC).

Some facilities are changing their requirements for motor and appliance installations. This could be due to OSHA Lock-out and Tag-out requirements or NFPA 70E. The change is toward using pin and sleeve devices instead of having a hard-wired installation.

Safety requirements often have the maintenance person checking for the absence of voltage before touching. The rules are quite specific and are enforced by OSHA.