Electrical Investigations: Case Studies, Common Electrical Safety Mistakes, and Lessons Learned

Electrical equipment failures often result in troubleshooting or root cause investigations that may be undertaken by maintenance personal, electricians, or investigative experts. The training, education and knowledge of safe electrical work practices may vary among these individuals. In our experience, it can happen that individuals conducting the electrical equipment troubleshooting or investigative activities, especially during the troubleshooting phase, make assumptions that not only put themselves in danger but also potentially jeopardize the lives of others that are assisting with the troubleshooting or investigative activity. This paper will present some common and fundamental electrical safety mistakes made by those conducting electrical equipment troubleshooting and failure investigations. Several case studies will be discussed and lessons learned will be presented.