The Safety Plan

It's the perfect time of the year to rehash your organization's safety plan. A good way to start off this activity is by identifying concerns and issues in your workforce. Every member of your organization should be involved, from the CEO to each other employee. Key statistics like the total hours worked, the number of injuries, the number of cases with days away from work, and other recordable data points should be collected over time. OSHA form 300, "OSHA Forms for Recording Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses." is a dependable reference to locate various other problem areas. It provides guidance on what to track and includes:

• Total number of deaths
• Total number of cases with days away from work
• Total number of cases with job transfer or restriction
• Total number of other recordable cases
• Total number of days away from work
• Total number of days of job transfer or restriction
• Total number of injuries, skin disorders, respiratory conditions, poisonings, hearing loss, and all other illnesses

Independent Electrical Contractor's Insights Magazine has a comprehensive list of requirements to fulfill (by Thomas Domitrovich, P.E.):

"EQUIPMENT CHECK

Target equipment includes a range from the big trucks and lifts that you own down to the screwdrivers and side cutters and everything in between. Your teams should be looking for wear and tear and any maintenance that needs to be performed. When you find safety equipment that needs to be replaced, get it out of use and replaced as soon as possible. 

The responsibilities don't stop when the message goes out to everyone that they need to check their tools and equipment. It's the responsibility of the management to ensure the funding is in place to replace the failed or failing equipment. The equipment check activities can help define your future budgets as some equipment can be designated for replacement in the coming years. This information is critical for your budgeting exercises.

CODE/REGULATION UPDATE

Codes and regulations change and you need to stay on top of them. This applies to more than just the National Electrical Code (NEC) and other similar documents. This applies to OSHA and other regulations that may be mandated for your business, as well. It is important to note that OSHA requirements are retroactive. Ensure you are referencing the latest version of the documents used in your business operations.

Budgets may be impacted by new regulations as well. Unaddressed, these changes can quickly suck the finances from your safety plans. It's important to not only know what current regulations and codes are in place, you need to know what is coming down the road so you can better anticipate changes in future budgets. Problems may not require an immediate fix but rather a plan over an amount of years to address them. It is important to budget and have a plan in place.

SAFETY PLAN UPDATE

Review your safety plan every year with your team. The data recorded above may influence changes to your plan. Make the appropriate changes and communicate them. This, too, may impact your safety budget. Equipment checks; statistic reviews; and, yes, new codes and regulations may influence changes in your safety plan. Take this annual opportunity to continue the improvement of this important document. Your entire team should have an opportunity to suggest changes to your safety plan. Those individuals who are implementing the plan and performing work on a daily basis are probably the best people in your group to help improve this document. They see what happens on a daily basis and, if encouraged correctly, could add valuable information that will help improve the plan.

TRAINING

By this step in the checklist you will have a lot of information that is important for your training program. You may have uncovered various areas of concern and, quite possibly, implemented improvements that will have to be communicated through your training programs. Ensure you include your performance data. equipment check information, and any codes/regulations that your people should be familiar with. This information helps reinforce your level of commitment to the safety program at all levels in the organization.

Your discussions around training should go well beyond internal training; it needs to include your "qualified individuals" and the necessary training they need to keep them up to date on their specific training needs. This is a time to the IEC meetings that are available and can be made available to meet your specific training needs. CEU credits will need to be obtained for those that hold licenses in your organization.

This, too, will need to be funded. Everyone has their role to play and the management's responsibility is to ensure the time and finances are available so that your people are adequately educated. There are many opportunities for external help in this area; all you need to do is identify the need to seek this help out, schedule it, and ensure it is funded.

COMMUNICATION

The important items above need to be communicated. A good communication plan shows the employees the level of commitment the organizations has to safety. Sharing your statistics reminds everyone of the commitment and reinforces your implemented safety procedures. Share with them information on the organization's investment in safety; this shows you have skin the game as well and are committed to safety.

The above is meant to get your head in the game and get you to start thinking about those critical safety aspects that need to occur on an annual, if not on a monthly, basis. Safety should be an ongoing process, a journey if you will. Establish the trigger for your organization to brush off your safety plan.

As always, keep safety at the top of your list and ensure you and those around you live to see another day. " 

Intrepid is a New East Bay EDA Member!

Intrepid is now a member of the East Bay Economic Development Alliance (EDA), serving to address the gap in business services such as accounting, insurance, and human resources that are currently not being represented. We are being represented by Darlene Besst on the East Bay EDA Executive Committee.

No Man's Land #WomensHistoryMonth

Many women-owned electrical contracting firms find themselves stuck in the middle when it comes to winning federal contracts.

"For many women-owned electrical contracting firms, the perception still exists that women-owned businesses are given preference when bidding on government contracts. This perception seems to hold true particularly in the construction industry, where although the number of women in the industry has been steadily increasing (See Fig. 1 below), women currently comprise only 12% of the workforce (See Fig. 2 below). This lingering stereotype also persists despite President Clinton signing the Small Business Administration Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 1994 into law, which dismantled the centralized federal program for certification of women-owned businesses (WBEs), according to the Congressional Research Service Report, 'Disadvantaged Businesses: A review of Federal Assistance.' 

(Fig. 1)
 Recruiting efforts and apprenticeship programs focused on women have slowly increased the total number of women working in the construction industry. 

 In its summary, the report says it is the policy of the federal government to encourage the development of small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) owned by minorities and women. However, SDBs are statutorily defined as small businesses that are owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias - and who have limited capital and credit opportunities. Under the Small Business Act, as amended, African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans. and Native Americans are presumed to be socially disadvantaged. Other business owners - who do not belong to these racial or ethnic groups (such as non-minority women) - must establish disadvantaged status as individuals for participation in certain federal programs. In other programs, women and handicapped persons are defined as socially disadvantaged and are eligible for participation as long as they are also economically disadvantaged. Therefore, a woman-owned firm must be economically disadvantaged to qualify.

(Fig. 2)
Women comprise about 12% of the workforce in the construction industry.

 'I don't get any of my work because I'm a woman-owned business anymore,' says Veronica Rose, master electrician and president and CEO of Aurora Electric, based in Long Island City, N.Y. 'Every time I think they've changed something to make it a little tighter and a little better, it's been basically useless.'

Rose began her career in the electrical industry by joining the electrical apprenticeship program under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) program. She became one of the first three women to earn her master's electrician license in New York City. In 1993, after working for L.K. Comstock, Arc Electric, and Fischbach and Moore, she went into business for herself with Aurora Electric. 

By 2000, she'd built Aurora Electric into a $9 million business, employing at least eight full-time electricians - many of whom were women - and using anywhere from 30 to 50 union electricians working in the field. 

But working in New York, Rose couldn't avoid the economic downfall in the aftermath of 9/11. 'It was horrible,' she says. 'We had specialized in systems, and one of our largest clients was the Port Authority. So when 9/11 hit, we lost a lot [of] our client base. But we're on the way back up. We've picked up a lot of work with the Transportation Security Administration and have been doing a lot at the airports on different high-tech security systems.'

The passage of the transportation bill in 2005, Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), also has helped Aurora build itself back up, in addition to the money reallocated to New York.

This one's too small. Although Aurora's downsized staff of seven has been busy with several projects, such as a CCTV upgrade for the Port Authority Bus Terminal on 42nd Street in Manhattan, underground work at Battery Park City, and several smaller retail projects, none of these jobs has anything to do with Ground Zero. In fact, Aurora hasn't won any contracts for reconstruction work, despite promises of hiring women - and minority-owned local businesses for those projects. 

'I've talked to the big boys building down there, and basically they're spending the money to everybody together to say that they want to do it, then when they get us to participate and bid on jobs on jobs, they say 'Ah, well you're not qualified here, your price is too high there,'' says Rose. 

According to Rose, small businesses aren't getting the reconstruction contracts. 'They're bundled that way to keep it that way,' she says. 'They don't bundle them less than $10 million a project, so there's no way in hell a small business enterprise is going to be able to get the project.'

Rose offers an example of a $200,000 project she was considering bidding on. The contractor asked for bids from small businesses, but then also asked for a 25% bid bond. 'I'm a small business, and they basically want me to give them a check for $50,000 at the time I bid it,' she says. 'That's ridiculous.'

Rose posits that the contractors want to discourage small businesses from bidding because they feel it's more work and effort to deal with small businesses. 'They'd rather disqualify as many as they can and say, 'Look, we did a good faith effort. The only ones that could really compete are the big boys,' she says. 'But once the big boys get involved, they waive those requirements.'

This one's too big. Fort Worth, Texas-based Stanfield Enterprises, otherwise known as S&J Electric, has the opposite problem when it comes to bidding on public contracts. At more than $30 million in revenue last year and with more than $3 million in heavy equipment and 300 employees, S&J Electric no longer qualifies as a disadvantaged business, even though the woman who started it from scratch still owns it. 

'We don't meet the criteria even though we're a woman-owned company,' says Edith Stanfield, founder and president of S&J Electric. 'In a period, they set a limit at this much sales or less in order to qualify as a disadvantaged company.'

For some companies, there's also the matter of the owner's personal assets being taken into consideration. 'That's not such a problem for me because I haven't taken much money from the company,' Stanfield says. 'I've used it to grow the company. I think the limit is under $750,000 though, so even if you just own a house now, it's probably worth more than that.'

However, on large-scale projects, bigger businesses may be the only ones equipped to handle the job. Stanfield cites an instance of one contractor having to hire 50 smaller subcontractors to do the work one large firm could have completed on its own.

'The bad part about this is that the companies that need to fill some of these quotas need subcontractors that are big enough with the resources to do these jobs,' says Stanfield.

Ironically, it may be the size of the contracts awarded to a disadvantaged business one day that disqualifies the business from those same contracts the next. 'The jobs are getting bigger and bigger, the costs are getting bigger and bigger, so naturally the sales are going to be bigger and bigger,' says Stanfield.

Whose wife are you? Stanfield got her start at a young age in the field with her electrician father who was working on the Rural Electrification Act project in rural Texas. Much later, with a background in engineering, Stanfield bought the company in 1985 from her then-employer when she needed a job that would support her family and realized he didn't have enough business to keep her busy. At the time, the move was a gamble. The Texas oil business was in the dumps, and banks were going bust. But Stanfield invested $5,000 and earned her master electrician's license.

'I was over 55 when I took my master's exam,' Stanfield says. 'A lot of people at 55, both women and men, think their lives are over. This particular phase of my life was just beginning.'

To get the business off the ground, Stanfield took a lot of jobs no one else wanted, especially the jobs on weekends, holidays, and nights. 'We took a lot of work in the mud and grime,' she says.

She also experienced the challenge of being a woman in a male-dominated field. 'The first job I ever got was at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, and it happened to be a night project,' she says. 'They said, 'It's a nighttime job. Who's going to supervise it?' insinuating I wasn't able to get out at night or that my counterpart would be much better at doing it.'

When Stanfield started her company she had difficulty getting bank loans and bonding. She bought the building for the company with a personal credit card after she was turned down for a bank loan. 'But as time goes on and they learn more about you, they forget all of this,' she says. 'They're not thinking of you as a minority company: They're thinking of you as a company that is in the critical path, that got the job done, and that is the low bidder.'

The perception that Stanfield wasn't capable of running an electrical contracting company because of her gender persisted even after she'd completed jobs and built up the business. 'I've been asked, 'Whose wife are you?' and when I was representing my company and being the patent chief person in charge of everything,' she says. 'That's a perception that has been built up over many years, and it has not gone away.'

Paying it forward. To try and counteract this perception, both Rose and Stanfield mentor other women starting in the electrical contracting industry. Rose is on the apprentice board for New York City's Local 3. The apprentice program pairs each new female apprentice with a female journeyman or master electrician. By working with an apprentice, Rose hopes she can encourage more women to stick with a career in electrical contracting. She says that women used to drop out of the program because of a lack of support. 'The first time you had a problem, you might drop out if you had no one that you could call,' Rose says.

Although Aurora Electric now has only one woman electrician, Rose would like to hire more. She also offers career advice to other women. 'As long as they're an apprentice, they're considered subordinate to a traditional journeyman electrician; therefore, if they're not a threat they stay employed,' she maintains. 'As soon as they're making journeyman's money, that's where we lose the women because they're not getting the jobs. I tell them you're got to hook up with other women in the trade so you can succeed. Don't try to do it alone because the isolation will kill you.'

Stanfield also mentors women in the industry. She volunteers time to the Tarrant County Business Owners Association of Women, Fort Worth-based National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), apprentice programs, and other fund-raising activities. 'If I can reach somebody and say, 'Look, you can do this if you really want to, but be prepared. Get the facts and don't lie to yourself,' she says. 'You need not think that they're going to send you work just because you're a woman. You're going to have to fight in the same arena that everybody else does.'

S&J Electric doesn't have a formal policy of hiring other women. 'I give every bit of the credit of my company to my employees, but as far as choosing them because they were women, I didn't,' Stanfield says. 'I wasn't looking to fill this or that kind of quota.'

Lynda D. Dodson, master electrician,

'In the field, as long as you work, people look at that, not just 'She's a woman, she needs an easy job,'' Dodson says. 'It was actually easier for me in the field than in the office. When estimating, my pay wasn't up to normal. It is now, but back then it was a challenge.'

(click here to see Chart)

Sidebar: Paper Tigers

The first federal effort to directly support female business owners, or women-owned business enterprises (WBEs), was issued by President Carter in 1979. Executive Order 12138 was designed to discourage discrimination against female entrepreneurs and to create programs responsive to their needs, including assistance in federal procurement. Through the issuance of the order, the Office of Women's Business Ownership was established within the Small Business Administration (SBA) to negotiate annually with each federal agency a percentage goal for the awarding of federal prime procurement contacts to WBEs.

Under the issuance, from 1982 to 1992 the number and revenue of women-owned businesses grew at increasing rates that outpaced other small business sectors (see Table on page C28). According to data from the SBA, the number of women-owned businesses grew in every sector of the economy in which the type of business could be determined - from a low of 73.2% for retail trade to a high of 382.1% for wholesale trade. Revenue increases for women-owned businesses ranged from 53.2% in mining to the 742.3% experienced by manufacturing.

With the Women's Business Ownership Act of 1988, the promotion of WBEs was given statutory authority. Under the act, WBEs were defined as a small business that is at least 51% owned, managed, and operated by one or more women. The act also established a loan guarantee program administered by SBA to guarantee commercial bank loans of up to $50,000 to small firms (not just WBEs); created a National Women's Business Council to monitor the progress of federal, state, and local governments in assisting WBEs; and authorized grants to private organizations to provide management and technical assistance to WBEs.

Annual procurement goals for WBEs continued to be negotiated between federal agencies and the SBA under the original issuance, Executive Order 12138. That is, until President Clinton announced the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA) of 1994, which established a 5% annual goal for WBE participation in federal prime contracts and subcontracts. For most divisions of government, this was a severe decrease. For example, the Dept. of Transportation's (DOT) previous goal was around 10%. However, FASA did amend the Small Business Act to give WBEs equal standing with small businesses and small disadvantaged businesses (SDB) in the subcontracting plans of federal prime contractors.

However, additional legislations for the federal government's promotion of WBEs was contained in the Small Business Administration Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 1994, which codified the SBA's Office of Women's Business Ownership; established an Interagency Committee on Women's Business Enterprise to recommend policies to promote the development of WBEs; and restructured the National Women's Business Council as a bipartisan federal government council to the Interagency Committee, the SBA, and Congress."

Are We There Yet? #InternationalWomensDay

"Recruiting and retaining women is widely recognized as one solution to the electrical industry labor shortage, but progress in the field is slow. A quarter century after the Department of Labor under President Jimmy Carter issued affirmative action regulation 41CFR 60. expanding President Lyndon Johnson's 1964 Executive Order 11246 to 'provide immediate equal opportunity for women in the construction industry,' the 6.9 percent target set for 1981 has not yet been reached in any construction trade.

The National Electrical Contractor's Association reported that in 2001, 68 percent of all new construction companies were owned by women. But women are not actively seeking positions in electrical contracting, frustrating companies seeking to make good-faith efforts to close the gap and maximize the potential talent pool.

Nearly 64 million women were employed in 2002, with some 4 million more looking for work at any given time, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau. That translates to roughly 60 percent of women age 16 or older, and 47 percent of the total work force. The four leading occupations for women were still retail sales, secretary, elementary school teacher and registered nurse; none of the top 20 was in construction.

In the field

Out of some 815,000 electricians cited in the 2002 statistics on nontraditional occupations for women (those in which women comprise 25 percent or less of the total), only 2.4 percent (20,000) were women, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Web site of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) contains no specific statistics for women in the union labor force, and does not list a formal program to actively recruit women as journeymen electricians. 

Although women in the field still complain of isolation, bathroom issues and the abrasive or even hostile job site culture and behavioral standards, improvements in safety and harassment policies have resulted from legislative mandates, as well as corporate self-interest. Treating women differently is no longer considered acceptable by construction owners or by contractors, some of whom are hoping to avoid litigation and further erosion of already tarnished public image.

Susan Eisenberg, one of the first IBEW apprentices, interviewed 28 other early tradeswomen about their experiences. Her book, 'We'll Call You If We Need You,' was published two decades after the 1978 mandate, and draws a depressing picture. 'Despite many examples of tradeswomen who were skilled, conscientious and productive workers, despite many efforts... to expand the participation and retention of women, the culture and the work force composition of the traditionally male industry have remained fairly intact.'

Eisenberg observes that one tradeswoman's performance on the job 'could become cause for other women's exclusion, but not for their inclusion.' She adds that the myth that no woman could do the work was replaced by the equally damning 'Myth of the Exceptional Woman,' who was successful, but not typical of her gender.

Of the ten electricians interviewed, six (including the author) have left the industry entirely. Only four were still employed in the industry as of 1998, and a fifth was considering a return to the trade. 

Many of the first tradeswomen were attracted by the established wage parity in union construction, as well as the chance to do physical work they could take pride in while providing for their families. At a World of Working Women conference in New York City, NECA member Veronica Rose, founder and CEO of Aurora Electric Inc., the fifth-fastest growing privately held company in the industry, pointed out that women who work as union electricians are within the top 5 percent of wage earners in the country. 

In 2001, 11.6 percent of working women age 16 and older belonged to unions, compared to 18.1 percent for all workers (1.275 million of the 7.05 million total employed in construction), according to the BLS Web site. In fact, women who are union members earn 30 percent more than their non-union counterparts, based on median weekly earnings data cited on the Web site of the AFL-CIO. With the highest rate of union membership, the financial incentives in construction trades should be attracting thousands of women.

So what's the problem?

Women still received mixed reviews from employers who struggle with job site culture and resistance by male employees. One NECA member found that placing a woman electrician on a crew raised production by at least 10 percent, 'because no man wants to be outworked by a woman.' Skilled journeymen electricians like Kris Rogne of Fargo, winner of the 2003 North Dakota worker of the Year award given by Dickies Workwear, are still the exception. The 45-year-old electrician left the banking industry six years ago to improve the standard of living for herself and her three daughters, but is still the only woman in Local 1326.

Though women comprised 3.9 percent of enrollment in union electrical programs from 1989-95, the author of a study on apprenticeship training in U.S. construction (Apprenticeship Training in the U.S. Construction Industry, Cihan Bilginsoy, University of Utah Department of Economics, September 1998) stated that 'with few exceptions, the participation of women in apprenticeship training in joint programs across trades is hardly satisfactory.' Of the 10 trades studied, electrician ranked fourth, below operating engineer (21.8 percent) painter (8.4 percent), and carpenter (5.6 percent). 

At the other end of the spectrum, a five-year study by the Center for Women's Business Research notes that the fastest growing area of female entrepreneurship is in nontraditional fields, such as construction and transportation. The director of the Center attributed the change to recognition of women's leadership capability, as well as a willingness by banks to extend higher levels of credit to women.

From 1992-97, women-owned construction company revenue growth (33 percent) outpaced that of male-owned firms by 9 percent, and the 6.7 percent of companies owned by women produced 7.2 percent of the total revenues. The number of people employed by women rose by 28 percent (more than three times the increase overall) and women now employ more than 10 percent of all people in the industry. Statistics are from "A Compendium of National Statistics on Women-Owned Businesses in the U.S.,' September 2001, as cited on the Women Construction Owners and Executives Resource Center Web site (www.wcoe-rc.org).

What now? 

Is the organized electrical contraction industry reaching out to women, actively recruiting and retaining them? Organizations and articles related to electrical contracting often provide limited statistics, and industry culture is slow to change. 'Man hours' has not yet been replaced by the more inclusive 'labor hours,' for example, and industry appreciation events and meetings too often include themes and prizes more suited to men. 

Major construction industry associations have been actively courting women as members, and developing them as local and national leaders. The American Subcontractors Association elected its first woman president nearly 25 years ago, and has had three others since then. NECA has not yet elected any woman to a leadership position, but it does highlight profiles of key women members on its Web site (www.neca.org). Dan Walter, NECA's COO, noted that 'participation by women in the industry is on the rise' and is confident that 'it's only a matter of time.'

Approximately 6 percent of accredited company representatives are estimated to be women, although gender is not specifically requested on membership records. Although few women hold management positions on the national staff, and none in regional offices, more success is evident at the chapter level, with women now comprising about 8 percent of chapter managers. A similar situation exists in the technical  and management training functions of the association. and no study grants have been awarded to women through the foundation of the association to date. 

A possible explanation for this lack of progress may be found in the fairly recent entry of women into a century-old industry, and an allowable transition period to develop the many who are active at the local level for future leadership positions. As Walters observes, 'I think the association will benefit by the increased participation of women.'

Success stories

Who do women choose electrical contracting, and how do they see their roles and opportunities? Traditionally, many women follow family members into the business, or assume control when a spouse or parent retires or dies. Maryanne Cataldo began City Lights Electrical Co. Inc. of Boston in 1989, when her former employer went bankrupt, in order to service some of its key customers.

Some come from the field, such as Veronica Rose, who took off her tool belt after 25 years in the industry and started Aurora Electric Inc. in Jamaica, N.Y. Project Manager Lori Strohecker, with Morse Electric in Freeport, Ill., began as a delivery truck driver, then moved into the accounting department. Believing the industry wasn't 'quite ready for a female PM in the 1990s,' she bided her time, moved into an assistant project manager position, and finally achieved her goal.

Still a small fraction of the industry, they tend to be overachievers. When asked about obstacles and opportunities, as well as the role of women in the industry, they are remarkably upbeat. Strohecker worried that her lack of technical field knowledge would detract from her relationships with customers and other contractors, but found that they were willing to allow her time to research solutions. “Time has … removed a lot of obstacles for women,” she said, although there is still some occasional awkwardness at the first project meeting. She believes that women in the field still face tougher challenges.

Customer service was the key to Cataldo’s success at the beginning, and City Lights guaranteed their customers a two-hour show-up time. Snapping up accounts their competitors declined, the company focused on being dependable and doing “the impossible easily by yesterday.” With more than 70 percent repeat business, and a proven track record of completing large, difficult jobs such as the Logan Airport Baggage Handling project and work on the Boston Central Artery Tunnel, Cataldo has altered the perception that a Women’s Business Enterprise cannot handle certain types of work.

Strohecker believes that “the industry is ready for women, and that each day will see more women in key positions.” She is convinced that women are “key to company profitability,” and that experience in office positions, multitasking, and handling paperwork contributes to their value as they move to other positions.

Women in electrical contracting actively mentor and help to recruit other women. Cataldo hires women for key positions and sits on the local board of the building trades, working to recruit more women. She hopes to see NECA intensify pressure on IBEW to accept more qualified women apprentices. She looks for ways to empower her employees and give them an equity stake and share of the company’s financial success. Like so many of her peers, she believes the industry is “a great career for women, as electrical construction requires the use of your brain as well as your back.” EC

NORBERG-JOHNSON is a former subcontractor and past president of two national construction associations. She may be reached at bigpeng@sbcglobal.net."

Additional statistics: 

Source.

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Repeating fast radio bursts found coming from outside our galaxy

"Multiple short bursts of radio waves have been found coming from a single location far beyond the Milky Way Galaxy, Cornell astronomers have discovered. It's the first time researchers have found these enigmatic 'fast radio bursts' to repeat, indicating that the waves are coming from a powerful source located many light years away.

Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, have long been a mystery for astronomers. Only 17 have ever
been found, and they usually appear as isolated events — flashes of radio waves in the sky that only last for milliseconds at a time. Scientists had theorized that the flashes were caused by events as exotic as the smashing together of neutron stars, but Cornell's discovery indicates that whatever produces the burst isn't destroyed in the process. Shami Chatterjee, a senior researcher at Cornell, said that the FRB in question in the paper did not have an explosive origin. 'So, either there's an odd coincidence,' Chatterjee said, 'or maybe there are different types of FRBs. Either way, it seems we've broken this enigmatic phenomenon wide open.'

The detection of FRBs has only occurred fairly recently. The first was spotted in 2007, after digging through data already collected by telescopes on Earth, and it was only last year that scientists caught a burst reaching our planet as it arrived. Astronomers know these bursts are coming from distant places in the Universe, but they've had difficulty pinpointing exactly where FRBs come from. The discovery of the most recent FRB — published in Nature last week — came from a galaxy 1.9 billion parsecs (6 billion light years) away, but the data wasn't detailed enough for scientists to figure out from exactly where it emanated.

Now we know that some of the FRBs discovered so far repeat their blasts of radio waves, we can start to work out either exactly what's causing their galaxy-spanning yelps, or classify them into different categories. Cornell professor James Cordes says that the phenomenon is not necessarily the result of a huge cosmic explosion, but neutron stars may still be the culprit. 'We're detecting these FRBs from very far away, which means that they are intrinsically very bright,' Cordes said. 'Only a few astrophysical sources can produce bursts like this, and we think they are most likely neutron stars in other galaxies.'"  

Source.  

The California Automatic Fire Alarm Association's 45th Annual Conference

Intrepid Electronic Systems, Inc. was a silver sponsor at the California Automatic Fire Alarm Association's (CAFAA) 45th Annual Conference, a fundraiser to support the CAFAA's education programs, expanded training, and Fire Prevention Officer programs!

The History of the Drill

2016 marks Black & Decker's 100th anniversary. In honor of this momentous occasion, this article is dedicated to the history of drills. Drills are an ancient tool used worldwide to advance human innovation.

Egyptian bow drill.

Bow drills were the first machine drills. Their original purpose was for creating fire, but as time progressed drills began to be used for holding objects together and other tasks. While the official patent of the portable electric drill came about in 1916, the rotary tool itself has existed since 35000 BCE. The bow drill functioned as following: "The bow drill was used for making holes in beads. It had two parts. The first part was a straight piece of reed or stick of wood with a sharp flint tip on the end. The second part was a bow-shaped reed or piece of wood... The sharp tip of the stick was placed in the middle of a bead, and the bow was moved back and forth around the stick to make it turn. The turning action made the tip of the stick drill a hole into the bead." 

Electricity came into the equation in 1889, just ten years after Thomas Edison invented the lamp, when Arthur James Arnot and William Blanch Brain of Australia patented the electric drill. In 1895, C&E Fein  of Germany used an electric motor to power a corded handheld drill.

"In 1916 the company files its first patent for a ½” portable electric drill with pistol grip and trigger switch. This innovation transformed a stationary tool into a portable one and set the cornerstone for today's power tool industry." - Black & Decker

Twenty years later, the electric drill was improved upon by Black & Decker. What started as a tiny machine shop started by Duncan Black and Alonzo Decker turned revolutionary when they combined the design of a Colt .45 automatic pistol with the mechanics of a C&E Fein drill. Thus began the upward climb of the trigger switch, pistol grip, handheld drill.