51% of electricians wish they could spend more time with their families.
Hard working sparkies would rather spend time with their families than having fun in the pub, a study has found. Quality time with loved ones came out on top above earning extra money and spending time in a boozer, showing that UK electricians think family is the most important thing despite working long hours.
And Brits’ love of DIY is a big part of why electricians are spending so long at work with research revealing that fixing dodgy DIY jobs accounts for a quarter of their workload. A third also reported fixing potentially life-threatening DIY jobs that have caused an electrical shock or fire, or incurred serious financial costs.
The research, undertaken by leading hand tool supplier, C.K tools, reveals how electricians spend their time at work, the challenges they face and how they would choose to spend their time if they could work more efficiently.
Two thirds (66%) of sparkies reported they spend over three hours each day cutting wire, and nearly half (46%) make an incredible 200 cuts to wire a day. It’s no surprise then that nearly three quarters suffer from aches and pains while on the job.
“We understand the pressures faced by electricians, and tradesmen in general, with long working hours, health and safety risks of working with electricity, and of course the reported challenges of dodgy DIY to repair.”
After spending time with family, earning extra money doing additional jobs came out as the thing most electricians would do with an extra hour in the day. But held back by inefficient tools, the chance of completing work faster is difficult.
A fifth reported that inefficient tools are the biggest challenge they face at work and so being well equipped for the task at hand is a big barrier to achieving that extra hour with family.
Charles Alan Whitfield, New Product Development Manager at C.K tools, said: “We understand the pressures faced by electricians, and tradesmen in general, with long working hours, health and safety risks of working with electricity, and of course the reported challenges of dodgy DIY to repair.
“We conducted the research in line with our newly enhanced C.K Redline VDE Side Cutters, designed to improve efficiency on the job, and thus free up some much needed time. It’s great to see that electricians are family focused and have the right idea about a work/life balance. Spending time with family helps people to feel fulfilled and cope with the challenges they face at work and being an electrician is certainly physically demanding looking at the statistics on cutting alone.”
The improved C.K Redline VDE Side Cutters require up to 18% less force than other leading brands. Through an exhaustive testing program, C.K tools redefined the cutting geometry of its side cutters to define the optimum blade angles for the effortless cutting of copper and aluminium cables.
The result is impressive, with independent, controlled testing proving that this fusion of engineering expertise has a marked impact on the ease of cut and blade durability. Thanks to these developments, the C.K Redline VDE Side Cutters are the best on the market.
To put this in context, the average pressure saving to make a cut is 74 Newton meters with an average electrician making over 10,000 cuts per year – resulting in a personal saving of over 75 tons of pressure.
Charles added: “We’d encourage all electricians to take a good look inside their tool bag. If the tools you have are slowing you down and stopping you from doing more of the things you’d like to, it’s time to get equipped with gear designed for the job.”
