Electrical PM Checklist
Scheduled electrical maintenance on a live installation. A thermographic survey carried out under load, torque checks that are recorded rather than assumed, RCD trip times written down against their limits, and a board register that counts toward the next periodic inspection.
- Twenty-six checks, plus nine instrument tests against their limits
- Thermographic survey under load, which is when it finds anything
- Torque recorded, not assumed, on the connections that matter
- Urgent, Improvement or Observation, coded per deficiency
Electrical Preventive Maintenance Checklist
Live installation, recorded results
| # | THERMOGRAPHIC SURVEY AND TORQUE | DONE | READING | BY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Survey every board under normal load, not after shutdown | |||
| 2 | Record the highest temperature rise above ambient found | |||
| 3 | Check and record torque on main and outgoing terminations |
The document you will get. Download for the full, editable file.
Who this electrical PM checklist is for
One installation, and three people who need very different things from the same visit.
The competent person doing the work
Most of this is carried out live, so the first thing the file asks is whether a permit and an isolation are needed. Anything requiring isolation leaves this checklist and goes under a written lockout procedure.
Whoever is accountable for the installation
You need the deficiency codes and the last two lines. Whether the installation is safe to remain in service is a decision somebody signs, and one Urgent code makes it for you.
The duty holder or building owner
Your interest is the board register and its countdown. A board whose periodic inspection has lapsed means the installation is unverified from that date, which is a different problem from a maintenance one.
The insurer or auditor
Thermographic evidence and recorded torque are the two things most often asked for and least often available, because both are easy to do and easy not to write down.
Where electrical PM carries the most risk
The checks are common to most low voltage installations. What changes is how much load is on them, how hard it is to get an outage, and what failure costs. If you run one of these, the sector page goes further than the template does.
- Data centers
Load is constant and an outage is close to impossible, which makes thermography under load the only survey you will ever get.
Data center maintenance software - Healthcare
Continuity of supply is clinical, so standby and UPS arrangements matter as much as the distribution they back up.
Healthcare maintenance software - Retail and malls
Many small boards across many sites, where the register and its countdown matter more than any individual reading.
Retail maintenance software - Commercial real estate
Landlord distribution against tenant demise, where the boundary decides who is responsible for which board.
Portfolio maintenance software - Corporate facilities
Occupied offices, where almost everything has to be done live because nobody will authorize a working hours outage.
Corporate facilities software - FM service providers
Contracted installations, where recorded torque and thermographic evidence are the deliverable the client actually audits.
FM service provider software
What an electrical PM checklist should contain
An electrical preventive maintenance checklist is the scheduled maintenance record for a low voltage installation, carried out mostly while it is live. It registers every distribution board against its next periodic inspection, surveys for heat under load, records torque and instrument results beside their limits, and codes each deficiency by severity.
A. The sections that carry the weight
| Field | What goes in it | Why it earns its place |
|---|---|---|
| Installation details | Supply arrangement, earthing, incoming rating, boards and standby | The earthing arrangement and supply configuration decide what several later tests even mean, so they are recorded once at the top rather than assumed. |
| Interval and its basis | The frequency chosen, and why | The file asks for the basis rather than just the number, because an interval set by use and environment is defensible and an interval inherited from a previous contractor is not. |
| Permit and isolation | Whether a permit or isolation is required, and its reference | The first real decision of the visit. Anything needing isolation belongs under a written lockout procedure and a permit, not under this checklist alone. |
| Distribution board register | Each board with location, what it supplies, rating and next inspection due | Carries a countdown against today. A board past its periodic inspection date is not a paperwork problem, it is an installation nobody has verified since. |
| Monthly and quarterly checks | Ten routine checks on enclosures, labelling, access and condition | The cheap ones. Most cost nothing but a look, and they are the checks that make the expensive parts of the visit faster. |
| Test button and functional checks | Seven checks including RCD test buttons and functional operation | The set that gets skipped because it is inconvenient to operate devices on a live installation, and the set whose omission is invisible until something needs to trip. |
| Thermographic survey and torque | Nine checks covering survey under load and recorded torque | The highest value section in the file. Both find the same failure, a loose or degrading connection, and neither shows up on any instrument test. |
| Instrument test results | Nine tests, each with its reading, unit, limit and verdict | Limit recorded beside the reading. A number without its limit cannot be reviewed later by anybody who was not present when it was taken. |
| Deficiencies found | Board or circuit, what was found, a severity code and a corrective work order | Coded Urgent, Improvement or Observation, spelled exactly. Anything Urgent is an isolate and fix, not a scheduled item. |
| Deficiencies by code | A count against each severity | Three numbers that summarize the visit, and the only one that changes the outcome is the count of Urgent. |
| Result | Checks completed, completion, and whether the installation stays in service | Safe to remain in service is a yes, a no, or with restrictions, and it is a judgment somebody signs rather than a figure the sheet calculates. |
| Visit Log | One row per visit with boards, hot spots, deficiencies by code and the certificate reference | Where a run of visits becomes a trend. The same board appearing with a hot spot twice is a different conversation from two unrelated findings. |
The two sections that justify the whole visit are the thermographic survey and the torque record, and they are the two most often skipped. Both exist to find the same failure mode: a connection that is loose, corroded or degrading. That failure does not appear on an insulation resistance test, it does not appear on a loop impedance test, and it will not appear on anything else in this file. It appears as heat, and only while current is flowing. This is why the survey has to be done under normal load and not after a convenient shutdown, and it is the single most common way a thermographic survey is made worthless. The torque record is the preventive half of the same thing. Checking a termination and writing the value down is the difference between a connection that has been verified and a connection somebody feels reasonably confident about, and the second one is what tends to be found at thirty degrees above ambient a year later.
B. What it looks like filled in
The deficiency list from one visit. Twenty-six checks completed, every instrument result inside its limit, and the installation still did not come back unrestricted.
| Board or circuit | Deficiency | Code | Corrective |
|---|---|---|---|
| DB-2A way 7 | Loose neutral termination, 31 K above ambient | Urgent | WO-1290 |
| DB-4 main switch | No torque recorded at the previous visit | Improvement | WO-1291 |
| DB-1 way 12 | RCD test button not operated since installation | Improvement | WO-1292 |
| DB-3 enclosure | Blanking plate missing, no live parts exposed | Observation | Next visit |
| DB-2B | Circuit chart not updated after minor works | Observation | Next visit |
| Level 2 riser | Labelling faded, still legible | Observation | Next visit |
Every instrument test on this visit passed, and one of them passed by a factor of roughly three hundred. Insulation resistance came back above two hundred and ninety nine megohms against a limit of one, which is as comfortable as that test ever reads. None of it saw the loose neutral on DB-2A, because a loose termination is not an insulation fault. It is a resistance in a current path, it turns into heat, and the only thing in this file that can find it is a camera pointed at a board that is actually working. That single Urgent code then decides the last two lines on its own. Twenty-six checks completed at full completion, three Observations that can wait for the next visit, two Improvements with work orders raised, and the installation still comes back safe to remain in service only with restrictions, because one connection is running thirty-one degrees hot behind a closed door.
Word for a version you want to align with your own competency and permit wording, Excel for the board register with its countdown, the instrument results against their limits and a Visit Log holding every visit, and PDF for the copy that goes out with the engineer. Free, and yours to rebrand.
How do you run an electrical preventive maintenance visit?
Decide what has to be dead before anything else. Then work the routine set, survey under load, and record every reading beside the limit it was measured against. Six steps.
Record the installation and settle the permit question first
Supply arrangement, earthing, incoming rating, number of boards and whether standby or UPS is present. Then decide whether a permit and an isolation are needed. Anything requiring isolation leaves this checklist and goes under a written lockout procedure.
Build the board register and read the countdown
Every board with its location, what it supplies, its rating and the date of its last periodic inspection. The countdown does the rest. A board past that date means the installation is unverified from then, which is not a maintenance finding.
Work the routine monthly and quarterly checks
Ten checks on enclosures, covers, labelling, access, circuit charts and general condition. Cheap, quick, and the reason the rest of the visit goes faster.
Operate the test buttons and functional devices
Seven checks, including RCD test buttons. Inconvenient on a live installation and routinely skipped, which is why a device that has never been operated since installation is such a common finding.
Survey under load, then record torque
Thermographic survey with the installation carrying normal load, logging the highest rise above ambient. Then check and write down torque on main and outgoing terminations. A survey after a shutdown finds nothing.
Record every result beside its limit, then code the deficiencies
Nine instrument tests with reading, unit and limit together. Code each deficiency Urgent, Improvement or Observation, raise corrective work for anything above Observation, and sign whether the installation stays in service.
Instrument testing versus thermographic survey
Two things done on the same visit that find completely different failures. Treating either as a substitute for the other is how a fault survives an inspection that looked thorough.
| Aspect | Instrument testing | Thermographic survey |
|---|---|---|
| What it actually measures | Insulation, impedance, continuity, trip times | Heat produced by current flowing now |
| The failure it finds | Degraded insulation and protection that will not operate | Loose, corroded or undersized connections |
| State of the installation | Often needs circuits dead | Must be live and under normal load |
| What a clean result proves | The circuit is sound and protection works | No connection was running hot at that moment |
| How the result is recorded | A reading against a published limit | A temperature rise above ambient |
| What it completely misses | A termination about to fail | Insulation quietly deteriorating |
The two are blind to each other's failures, which is why the file asks for both on the same visit. A loose termination can sit behind a perfect set of instrument results indefinitely, because nothing being measured is affected by it until the connection finally fails. Equally, a thermographic survey of an installation with deteriorating insulation will show nothing at all, because degraded insulation does not produce heat in a way a camera reads. The practical consequence is about scheduling rather than technique: the survey has to be booked when the building is working normally, and that is exactly the time nobody wants an engineer near the boards.
When the template starts to feel limiting
The file is built for one installation visited repeatedly by somebody competent. Four things start to hurt as soon as that is not the shape of the problem.
One file per installation, many installations
Asking which of forty sites has an open Urgent deficiency, or which boards are past their periodic inspection date, means opening forty files.
The countdown only counts when the file is open
The board register calculates days against today, which is useful the moment you look at it and completely passive for the eleven months you do not.
Thermal images live somewhere else
The survey produces images, and the spreadsheet holds a temperature. The evidence that actually settles an argument ends up in a camera, a report or an email.
A repeat hot spot does not announce itself
The same board running warm on two consecutive visits is the most useful signal in the whole file, and spotting it depends on somebody remembering last year's number.
What running this in Facilio looks like
The work is unchanged. What changes is that the board carries its own history, so a second hot spot is recognized as a second one.
Asset Intelligence
The board remembers running hot
Readings and deficiencies attach to the board rather than to a visit sheet, so a termination warm two visits running reads as a deteriorating connection instead of two unrelated numbers.
Work Order Intelligence
An Urgent becomes work immediately
The deficiency raised on the visit is the record somebody closes, so an isolate and fix does not depend on a line in a spreadsheet being retyped into a ticket.
Audit Report Intelligence
Evidence assembles itself
Thermographic findings, recorded torque and instrument results sit against the installation, so producing evidence for an insurer stops being a search through visit files.
Ops Performance Intelligence
Periodic inspection dates surface on their own
Each board carries its own next due date, so one lapsing is an exception that appears rather than a countdown nobody happened to open.
Hallucination-free by design. Atom AI answers from the records in your tenant rather than generating plausible text, so an empty field reads as empty rather than filled in for you.
Frequently asked questions
What is an electrical PM checklist?
An electrical PM checklist, short for electrical preventive maintenance checklist, is the scheduled maintenance record for a low voltage installation. This one carries twenty six checks across a routine monthly and quarterly set, a test button and functional set, and a thermographic survey and torque set, plus nine instrument tests recorded against their limits.
Most of it is carried out on a live installation, which is the reason the first section asks whether a permit and an isolation are required before anything else happens.
Why does the thermographic survey have to be done under load?
Because the fault it looks for only exists while current is flowing. A loose or corroded connection has a resistance, and resistance in a current path produces heat. Remove the load and the heat disappears along with the evidence.
This is the most common way a thermographic survey is wasted. Surveying a board after a convenient shutdown produces a clean report about an installation that was not working, which tells you nothing about the installation that is.
What is the difference between electrical PM and a periodic inspection?
Preventive maintenance is the recurring work that keeps an installation in condition: the routine checks, the functional tests, the survey and the torque record. A periodic inspection is a formal verification of the installation against a standard, carried out at a set interval and producing a certificate.
The board register in this file exists to hold that boundary. It counts down to the next periodic inspection per board, because maintenance being up to date does not mean the installation has been verified.
Why record torque rather than just check the connections?
Because checking without recording produces no evidence and no baseline. A written value can be compared at the next visit and can be produced for an insurer. A confident recollection cannot.
It also changes behavior. A blank cell next to a termination is much harder to leave than a checkbox, and the terminations that get skipped are usually the ones later found running hot.
What do the Urgent, Improvement and Observation codes mean?
Urgent is something that needs isolating and fixing rather than scheduling. Improvement is a real deficiency that should be corrected but does not make the installation unsafe to run. Observation is worth writing down and does not require action now.
They have to be spelled exactly that way because the summary counts them, and the Urgent count is the one that matters. A single Urgent decides whether the installation is signed back as safe to remain in service.
Can this checklist be used on a live installation?
Most of it is designed to be. The routine checks, the thermographic survey and much of the functional set are carried out with the installation working, and the survey specifically has to be.
Anything requiring isolation is deliberately outside its scope. That work goes under a written lockout procedure and a permit to work, and this file asks for the permit reference rather than pretending to replace it.
How often should electrical preventive maintenance be carried out?
It depends on the use and the environment rather than on a single universal number, which is why the file asks you to record the basis for the interval and not just the interval. A clean office installation and a dusty industrial one with heavy cycling do not belong on the same frequency.
The routine set here is written for monthly and quarterly attention, with the thermographic survey and torque work typically annual. Whatever you choose, record why, because an inherited interval nobody can justify is the first thing an auditor pulls on.
Does a clean set of test results mean the installation is safe?
Not on its own, and the worked example on this page exists to make that point. An installation can return insulation resistance several hundred times above its limit while a neutral termination sits thirty degrees above ambient behind a closed door.
Instrument testing and thermography find different failures and neither covers the other. A visit that produces only one of them has looked at half the installation.
In one paragraph
An electrical PM checklist covers scheduled work on a live installation, and three details decide whether the visit was worth doing. Survey under load, because a loose connection only produces heat while current flows. Record torque rather than trusting a recollection. Write every instrument reading beside the limit it was measured against, so somebody who was not there can review it. Then code each deficiency, and remember that one Urgent decides whether the installation stays in service.
The checklist is the floor, not the ceiling
Use it per installation, keep the survey under load and keep the torque values written down. Once you are tracking boards past their inspection date across sites, or trying to remember whether a board ran warm last year, the spreadsheet has done its job.
