CSA Changes 2009 Canadian Electrical Code to Align with American Counterpart
from Daily Commercial News
Future upgrades to the Canadian Electrical Code will help bring the code closer to its American counterpart and incorporate new safety improvements, states the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). “There will be greater clarity improvements and harmonization (with the new code),” said Stephen Brown, electrotechnical director at CSA. More

IAEI Membership: A Value That Is Unmatched
from IAEI
To keep pace with the vision of a future IAEI and to meet the needs required to attain that vision, beginning January 1, 2009, we will launch the first adjustment to our membership dues structure since 2002. The goal of the change is to continue the benefit enhancements and to expand the services offered to members. More

Getting Selective about Reliability and Safety
from Industrial Equipment News
Selective coordination is the selection of fuses and circuit breakers in such a way that an overload or short circuit on one branch circuit will cause only the fuse or circuit breaker feeding that circuit to open, without causing upstream circuit breakers or fuses to open. The National Electrical Code (NEC) requires it for emergency circuits and legally required standby systems, where it can prevent blackouts in places like hospitals and elevators where losing power could be hazardous. More

Contractor for Military Committed Serious Violations
from CNN
A contractor providing services to the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan has committed serious violations of its contract, mainly by conducting inadequate inspections of electrical wiring and grounding at American bases, according to Pentagon sources. The Pentagon findings on Houston, Texas-based KBR stem from the widely publicized death of Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a highly decorated 24-year-old Green Beret from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Maseth was electrocuted while taking a shower at his base in Baghdad. More

Kentucky Regulators Decide Not to Require Electrical Safety Features in New Homes
from WHAS-TV
It was a battle between safety and cost and cost won as Kentucky regulators decided not to require electrical safety features in new homes. The proposed code would have required child resistant electrical outlets in all new homes. But the home builders association lobbied hard against the new rules, calling the safety devices too expensive. More

Electrical Accident Survivor Shines Light on Holiday Decorating Safety
from The Rock River Times
Wisps of smoke were rising from his chest when Maria Worth came upon her injured son. Shawn Miller was unconscious and badly burned. He had been hanging holiday lights in the trees that lined her yard. As he tossed the lights up into the trees, 7,200 volts of electricity had entered his body, traveling from the overhead power lines through his strand of lights. The survivor has joined forces with Safe Electricity’s Teach Learn Care TLC campaign to spread awareness about the importance of electrical safety. More

Sun Rising on California's Power Horizon
from the San Francisco Chronicle
Solar power accounts for less than 1 percent of California's energy resources, but Bay Area residents are buying systems in increasing numbers, which is good news for the environment and the solar industry, advocates say. Californians have more than 60 percent of the nation's solar installations, and more than 66 percent of the state's solar applications are in Northern California, according to a report released Monday by the Northern California Solar Energy Association, a nonprofit advocacy group. More