"Block Shock"

By appropriately using personal protective equipment (PPE), wire and line workers can avoid death by one of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's accurately termed "Fatal Four": electrocution. Workers must inspect their PPE for proper function and damage such as "embedded foreign objects, holes, punctures, cuts, tears, ozone cutting and checking, texture changes, hardening, stickiness, swelling, softening, nonelastic properties, or any other defects that may effect PPE insulating properties". The safety of a worker is top priority, and ensuring their protection is essential to the electrical contracting industry.

Read more about stopping electrocution and other dangerous injuries at: http://www.ecmag.com/section/block-shock

California heightens the severity of punishment for non licensed contractors

"The consequences of contracting without the proper license can be severe. An unlicensed contractor may not sue to recover for the value of its work. B&P § 7031(a). Even more damaging, an owner can seek disgorgement of all monies paid to a contractor, even if there was nothing wrong with the contractor’s construction of the project. B&P § 7031(b); Alatriste v. Cesar’s Exterior Designs, Inc., 183 Cal. App. 4th 656 (Cal. Ct. App. 2010). As the California Supreme Court has observed, B&P § 7031 'represents a legislative determination that the importance of deterring unlicensed persons from engaging in the contracting business outweighs any harshness between the parties, and that such deterrence can best be realized by denying violators the right to maintain any action for compensation in the courts of this state.' MW Erectors, Inc. v. Niederhauser Ornamental & Metal Works Co., 36 Cal. 4th 412, 423; 115 P.3d 41 (Cal. 2005)."


Read more about this topic at: http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=679dd2ae-3178-4c4d-abf5-137aa956b45b

NCNSFPE's Golf Tournament

Intrepid Electronic Systems sponsored a hole at the Nevada Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers' Golf Tournament.

Access Control Updates

Transmission technology has transformed from the proximity card to the smart card, and now, long range reading transmission technology advancements at Farpointe Data have created 433 MHz transmitters that are substantially more resourceful than the previous 125 kHz of the proximity card and 13.56 MHz of the smart card.
The new two or four button transmitters can open two to four doors from up to 200 feet. The 433 MHz receivers use both long range identification and no-contact technologies; an efficient combination of proximity and smart cards. The new transmitters and receivers are also more secure because the communication signal only activates when the user is pressing the transmitter's button and proceeds directly to the receiver, not like common active cards which usually send out a constant signal for a receiver. Security is also heightened because when a user presses a transmitter's button, the access data changes due to the fact that it is encrypted and rolling consistently. Codes cannot be sniffed or duplicated.
Farpointe Data's work is not over yet. The long range transmission technology popularity is growing thanks to the convenience it brings to every user.

Read more about this at: http://www.farpointedata.com/technology & http://www.ecmag.com/section/new-opportunities-access-control.

San Diego's Daily Transcript Says That Electrical Contracting Is In A "New Era of Growth"

San Diego's NECA Chapter has expanded from 32 contractor members and 35 associate members to 51 contractor members and 48 associate members, sure to grow even more within the next year. The recession hit everyone hard, and the electrical contracting companies are just now gaining back the numbers they had before the economic downturn. These kinds of exciting advancements are happening all around the nation. Electrical contracting is a $130 billion industry, according to NECA, and that is evident in the impact and influence electrical contractors have on U.S. communities.

Read about the rise of electrical contracting in San Diego at: http://www.sddt.com/News/article.cfm?SourceCode=20150827crg#.Vd5eVyVVhHw

victor Video Management System (VMS)

Manually written reports are in the past. With victor VMS, investigators and command center operators can now "view, manage and replay alarms as needed" and collect essential information like "videos and still images, report data and charts and user notes - into a template and export it as an incident report for internal use by management or external use by local law enforcement." The days of transcribing notes, exporting images and charts, and burning CD's are over.

Read the American Dynamics article on victor VMS here: http://www.americandynamics.net/NewsEvents/NewsDetails.aspx?i=277

Assistance to Firefighters Grant helps further the FSRI's mission.

UL's Firefighter Safety Research Institute (FSRI) received $1.5 million from Homeland Security's Assistance to Firefighters Grant to support the FSRI's mission to "increase firefighter knowledge and reduce injuries and deaths in the fire service and the communities it serves". 

Read the full press release here: http://ul.com/newsroom/pressreleases/new-dhs-grant-helps-ul-continue-improving-fire-service-knowledge-with-hands-on-training/