The ETL blog
Updates from our Highways, Connections and Training teams, and what’s new in AMP.
When AI Sees an Incident That Never Happened
Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly useful in engineering, inspection, training and assessment. It can review large amounts of information quickly, identify patterns, organise evidence and produce remarkably professional reports. That capability is precisely why we need to understand its limitations. At Electrical Testing Ltd, we had been using AI to help review video evidence from...
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A risk we accept?
The Risk We Quietly Accept: When Identifying Risk Is Mistaken for Managing It A recent and widely reported street lighting column collapse, which resulted in life-changing injuries to a member of the public, has prompted a familiar response across the highway lighting sector. Predictably, attention has focused on ageing assets, corrosion at the base, inspection...
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Raising the Bar on Slinging Techniques for Lighting Columns
A Persistent Safety Gap in Highway Lighting Across the highway lighting industry, one safety issue continues to cause concern: the inconsistent and sometimes unsafe slinging of lighting columns during lifting operations. Despite improvements in other areas of health and safety, column lifting remains a weak point. These inconsistencies increase the risk of serious accidents, near...
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Structural Impact of Flags on Lighting Columns – A Technical Perspective
Does the addition of a small flag or banner create a structural risk to the lighting column?
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How APIs Are Revolutionising Highway Electrical Asset Management
The Problem with Outdated Systems Imagine driving down a motorway at night, only to find vast stretches plunged into darkness. Beyond the inconvenience, these outages pose safety risks, escalate maintenance costs, and present compliance challenges for local authorities and contractors alike. In the past, the highway electrical sector relied heavily on paper-based inspections, disconnected systems,...
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Why National Accreditation Should Be the Minimum for Structural Inspection of Lighting Columns
Across the UK, structural safety of lighting columns is a matter of public trust, engineering integrity, and increasingly, legal and financial liability. Yet, while most local authorities appreciate the importance of inspecting their street lighting stock, many still rely on non-accredited providers or procurement processes that prioritise cost over competence. It’s time for a sector-wide...
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The Evolution of Safety Culture
A Case Study in Highway Electrical Operations Creating a robust safety culture is both an art and a science. For organisations in high-risk industries, the challenge lies in translating theoretical safety principles into practical, measurable improvements. This article chronicles our journey in the highway electrical sector from 2020 to 2024, showcasing how we progressed from...
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Capable Hands. Prove it!
Competent Persons Schemes, HERS, and UKAS Accreditation: Ensuring Quality in Highway Electrical Contracting In the complex world of highway electrical contracting, ensuring both the competence of individuals and the robustness of assessment processes is paramount. Clients need confidence that their projects are in capable hands, and this is where schemes such as the NICEIC Approved...
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The Risks of Relying on AI for Safety Advice: A Cautionary Tale About Overhead Line Clearances
I was pretty sure about the distances required for vertical clearances between overhead lines and goalposts at a work site this week, but I thought I’d double-check with ChatGPT – you know, just to feel comfortable, like getting a reassuring hand on the shoulder. What I didn’t expect was to have my confidence undermined by...
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