In 2018, Justin Kropp was working on a transmission circuit in Southern California when disaster struck. Grid operators had earlier shut down the 115-kilovolt circuit, but six high-voltage lines that shared the corridor were still operating, and some of their power snuck onto the deenergized wires he was working on. That rogue current shot to the ground through Kropp’s body and his elevated work platform, killing the 32-year-old father of two.

“It went in both of his hands and came out his stomach, where he was leaning against the platform rail,” says Justin’s father, Barry Kropp, who is himself a retired line worker. “Justin got hung up on the wire. When they finally got him on the ground, it was too late.”

Budapest-based Electrostatics makes conductive suits that protect line workers from unexpected current. Electrostatics

Justin’s accident was caused by induction: a hazard that occurs when an electric or magnetic field causes current to flow through equipment whose intended power supply has been cut off. Safety practices seek to prevent such induction shocks by grounding all conductive objects in a work zone, giving electricity alternative paths. But accidents happen. In Justin’s case, his platform unexpectedly swung into the line before it could be grounded.

Conductive Suits Protect Line Workers

Adding a layer of defense against induction injuries is the motivation behind Budapest-based Electrostatics’ specialized conductive jumpsuits, which are designed to protect against burns, cardiac fibrillation, and other ills. “If my boy had been wearing one, I know he’d be alive today,” says the elder Kropp, who purchased a line-worker safety training business after Justin’s death. The Mesa, Ariz.–based company, Electrical Safety Consulting International (ESCI), now distributes those suits.

Conductive socks that are connected to the trousers complete the protective suit. BME HVL

Eduardo Ramirez Bettoni, one of the developers of the suits, dug into induction risk after a series of major accidents in the United States in 2017 and 2018, including Justin Kropp’s. At the time, he was principal engineer for transmission and substation standards at Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy. In talking to Xcel line workers and fellow safety engineers, he sensed that the accident cluster might be the tip of an iceberg. And when he and two industry colleagues scoured data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, they found 81 induction accidents between 1985 and 2021 and 60 deaths, which they documented in a 2022 report.

“Unfortunately, it is really common. I would say there are hundreds of induction contacts every year in the United States alone,” says Ramirez Bettoni, who is now technical director of R&D for the Houston-based power-distribution equipment firm Powell Industries. He bets that such “contacts”—exposures to dangerous levels of induction—are increasing as grid operators boost grid capacity by squeezing additional circuits into transmission corridors.

Electrostatics’ suits are an enhancement of the standard protective gear that line workers wear when their tasks involve working close to or even touching energized live lines, or “bare-hands” work. Both are interwoven with conductive materials such as stainless steel threads, which form a Faraday cage that shields the wearer against the lines’ electric fields. But the standard suits have limited capacity to shunt current because usually they don’t need to. Like a bird on a wire, bare-hands workers are electrically floating, rather than grounded, so current largely bypasses them via the line itself.

Induction Safety Suit Design

Backed by a US $250,000 investment from Xcel in 2019, Electrostatics adapted its standard suits by adding low-resistance conductive straps that pass current around a worker’s body. “When I’m touching a conductor with one hand and the other hand is grounded, the current will flow through the straps to get out,” says Bálint Németh, Electrostatics’ CEO and director of the High Voltage Laboratory at Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

A strapping system links all the elements of the suit—the jacket, trousers, gloves, and socks—and guides current through a controlled path outside the body. BME HVL

The company began selling the suits in 2023, and they have since been adopted by over a dozen transmission operators in the United States and Europe, as well as other countries including Canada, Indonesia, and Turkey. They cost about $5,200 in the United States.

Electrostatics’ suits had to meet a crucial design threshold: keeping body exposure below the 6-milliampere “let-go” threshold, beyond which electrocuted workers become unable to remove themselves from a circuit. “If you lose control of your muscles, you’re going to hold onto the conductor until you pass out or possibly die,” says Ramirez Bettoni.

The gear, which includes the suit, gloves, and socks, protects against 100 amperes for 10 seconds and 50 A for 30 seconds. It also has insulation to protect against heat created by high current and flame retardants to protect against electric arcs.

Kropp, Németh, and Ramirez Bettoni are hoping that developing industry standards for induction safety gear, including ones published in October, will broaden their use. Meanwhile, the recently enacted Justin Kropp Safety Act in California, for which the elder Kropp lobbied, mandates automated defibrillators at power-line work sites.

This article was updated on 14 January 2026.

Full Circle Lithium Launches First of Its Kind Lithium Battery Fire Extinguishers for Retail, Commercial, and Industrial End-Users

• Specifically designed for fire safety for dangerous and hard-to-control lithium-ion battery fires in retail/home, commercial, and industrial settings
• This new launch includes six new extinguisher sizes that use FCL’s proprietary, non-hazardous, non-toxic, water-based fire-extinguishing agent FCL-X
• Several important North American retailers, as well as commercial and industrial players, have expressed strong interest in carrying FCL’s new line of products, given the lack of an effective, efficient, and safe lithium battery fire extinguisher in the market

TORONTO, Jan. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ – Full Circle Lithium Corp. (“FCL” or the “Company”) (TSXV: FCLI) (OTCQB: FCLIF) (FSE: K0Q), a leading US-based lithium-ion battery fire extinguishing products manufacturer, is pleased to announce the launch of six new lithium-ion fire extinguishers sizes, including four retail-focused models (20 ounces, 1 litre, 2 litre and 3 litre) and two industrial-size units (30 litre and 50 litre), designed to address the growing risks associated with lithium-ion battery use across residential, recreational, and industrial environments. All new products will use FCL-X, a proprietary, non-hazardous, non-toxic, water-based fire-extinguishing agent, and will initially be launched in North American markets.

Lithium-ion batteries continue to power everyday life. The risk of thermal runaway, leading to battery-related explosions and fires, has increased across home electronics, power tools, e-mobility devices, and recreational equipment. FCL’s new extinguisher lineup was engineered specifically to address these unique hazards.

The retail-focused models are ideal for homeowners and consumer applications, providing targeted protection for electronics, laptops, e-bikes, e-scooters, power tools, and other battery-powered devices commonly found in the home. These compact units are designed for easy placement in garages, living spaces, workshops, and charging areas.

The new extinguishers also address the rapidly expanding use of lithium-ion batteries in recreational applications, including golf, boating, and powersports. As most golf carts transition to electric power and lithium-ion batteries become standard on boats and recreational vehicles, dedicated fire protection is increasingly critical. The new models offer peace of mind for golf courses, marinas, boat owners, and powersports enthusiasts alike.

For higher-risk and commercial environments, the two industrial-size extinguishers deliver greater agent capacity and performance, making them well-suited for warehouses, service facilities, charging stations, and industrial operations that manage large quantities of lithium-ion batteries. A 100-litre format will also be available over the next few months.

Chad Carver, VP of Sales and Operations, at the Company, said:

Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere, and the fire risks they present are fundamentally different from traditional fires,

“These new extinguishers were developed to help protect people, property, and investments, whether that’s a family home, a golf cart fleet, a boat at the marina, or an industrial facility.”

All six extinguisher sizes are engineered to meet applicable safety and performance standards and are available immediately through FCL’s authorized distribution network. They will soon be listed on FCL’s website as well.

FCL is working with a number of North American retailers who are very interested in making these specialty extinguishers available to their customers, as well as with a growing list of key commercial and industrial players exposed to lithium-ion battery fire risks. More information on these potentially transformative opportunities will be provided as they materialize over the next several months.

READ the latest Batteries News shaping the battery market

Full Circle Lithium Launches First of Its Kind Lithium Battery Fire Extinguishers for Retail, Commercial, and Industrial End-Users, source

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What keeps data center operators up at night? Among other things, worries about the safety and reliability of their assets. Staying competitive, maintaining 24/7 uptime, and meeting customer demand can all seem like overwhelming tasks – especially while operating on a lean budget.

The good news is that safety and reliability are very compatible goals, especially in the data center. An efficient, proactive maintenance strategy will deliver both greater reliability and increased security, so that your data center can support ever-growing demand while maintaining the trust of its customers.

In this article, I’ll talk about the best practices for maintenance teams tasked with increasing safety and uptime. I’ll explain how choosing the right tools can help your data center thrive and scale, without increasing costs.

Baking In Safety and Efficiency 

Solid maintenance practices start at the commissioning stage.

There’s no getting around the fact that a data center build is labor-intensive and demanding. Every single connection, electrical point, and fiber optic cable needs to be tested and verified. If you’re not careful, the commissioning stage has enormous potential for error and wasted resources, especially in a hyperscale location. Here’s how to solve that problem.

Choose Your Tools Wisely

It’s important to use the right tools and build efficiencies into the commissioning stage. Think of this stage as an opportunity to design a process that makes sense for your crew and your resources.

If you’re working with a lean maintenance crew, make sure to use tools that are purpose-built for ease of use, so that everyone on your team can achieve high-quality results right away. Look for cable testers, Optical Time Domain Reflectometers, and Optical Loss Test Sets that are designed with intuitive interfaces and settings.

Select tools that comply with, or exceed, industry standards for accuracy. Precision results will make a huge difference when it comes to the long-term lifespan of your assets. Getting accurate readings the first time also eliminates the need for re-work.

Opt for Safety and Efficiency

As always, safety and efficiency go hand in hand. When you’re building a large or hyperscale data center, small gains in efficiency add up quickly. If your tools allow you to test each connection point just a few seconds more quickly, you’ll see significant savings by the end of the data center construction.

Once the commissioning stage is complete, it’s a question of consolidating your efficiency gains, and finding new ways to keep your data center resilient without raising costs. Let’s see what that looks like.

Using Non-Contact Tools for Safety and Efficiency

Once your data center is fully built, I recommend implementing non-contact tools as far as possible. Done right, this will drastically improve your uptime and performance, while reducing overall costs.

What does non-contact look like? For some equipment, like the pumps and motors that support your cooling equipment, wireless sensors can monitor asset health in real time, tracking vibration levels and temperature.

Using Digital and AI Tools

Tools like a CMMS, or an AI-powered diagnostic engine, sift through asset health data to pinpoint early indications of an emerging fault. Today’s AI tools are trained on billions of data points and can recognize faults in assets and component parts. They can even determine the fault severity level and issue detailed reports on the health of every critical asset in the facility.

Once the fault is identified, CMMS creates a work order and a technician examines the asset, making repairs as needed. For lean maintenance crews, digital tools free up valuable time and labor, so that experienced technicians can focus on carrying out repairs, instead of reading machine tests or generating work orders.

The bottom line: real-time wireless monitoring keeps your technicians safe, eliminating the need for route-based testing with a handheld device. No more sending workers to squeeze into tight spaces or behind machinery just to get a measurement. By extension, no more risk of human error or inaccurate readings. Digital tools don’t make careless mistakes, no matter how often they perform the same task.

Of course, wireless monitoring isn’t the only non-contact approach out there.

Bringing in the bots

It’s now increasingly common to send robots into the data center to perform basic tests. This accomplishes the crucial function of keeping people out of the data center, where they could potentially hurt themselves or damage something.

I often see robots used to perform thermal imaging tests. Thermal imaging is a key element in many maintenance processes, especially in the data center. It’s the best means of pinpointing electrical faults, wiring issues, faulty connections, and other early indicators of major issues.

Using a robot to conduct the testing (or a mounted, non-contact thermal imager) allows you to monitor frequently, for accurate and precise results. This also protects your team from potential dangers like arc flashes and electrical shocks.

Opening the (infrared) window

Infrared windows, installed directly into power cabinets, make power quality monitoring both safer and more efficient. This is by far the safest approach for operators and technicians. It also guarantees readings will be taken regularly and speeds up the measurement process, by eliminating the time-consuming permitting step. The more frequently your team takes readings, the more effectively they can identify emerging issues and get ahead of the serious faults that could impact your assets and your whole facility.

Successful scaling through automation

Standardizing and automating workflows can enable fast, effective scaling. These processes also extend the reach of lean maintenance teams, so that managers can oversee larger facilities while still delivering high performance.

Automated monitoring and testing – with wireless tools, robots, and non-contact technology—deliver data in near real-time. When you pair this with AI, or with data analytic software, you’ll be able to identify emerging asset faults long before they become serious enough to cause downtime. This predictive technology enables far greater uptime and productivity, while also extending the lifespan of your assets.

Automated AI diagnostic tools, condition monitoring, and robotic testing all enable data centers to scale and to continue to deliver the speed and performance that today’s digitalized economy relies on.

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About the Author

Mike Slevin is a General Manager (Networks, Routine Maintenance & Process Instrument) at Fluke, a company known worldwide for its electronic test and measurement tools. Mike works with data centers and industrial clients to improve energy efficiency, safety, and reliability through better monitoring and maintenance practices.

The post Ensuring Equipment Safety and Reliability in Data Centers appeared first on Data Center POST.

BESS Large-Scale Fire Testing (LSFT) has been adopted as part of best practice thinking on safety validation, with at least a dozen companies announcing tests and results and many more expected going forward. It becomes mandatory in the 2026 edition of NFPA 855.

Earthing (grounding) is to make an electric connection between a conductive part and a local earth. This is a fundamental concept in electrical installations, providing a path for fault currents and helping ensure electrical safety. It prevents electric shock hazards, limits overvoltages, and ensures the proper operation of protective devices. There are several earthing systems […]