When business owners think about electrical risk, fire is usually the first thing that comes to mind. It is a serious risk, and a fair one to focus on. For many commercial and industrial sites, though, the more immediate cost of an electrical fault often has little to do with fire at all: a production line stopping mid-run, a commercial kitchen losing power over service, cold storage failing, or a joinery workshop sitting unusable while an electrician works out what went wrong.
Both risks come from the same source: an electrical system that has not been checked in a while. A periodic verification and thermal imaging inspection is designed to catch the early signs of both, before they turn into a fire, a breakdown, or a closed sign on the door.
Fire risk and business interruption are closely linked
According to FMG Insurance, electrical faults are behind the majority of significant commercial building fire claims they have seen over the past five years. FMG's own advice to policyholders is direct: a serious fire in a commercial building means facing serious business interruption, not just the cost of repairing the damage.
That distinction matters. A building fire is the outcome insurers and fire services report on, but the interruption to trading, whether that is a few days or several months, is often the cost a business actually feels first.
What actually happens when a switchboard fails
A fault at the switchboard rarely stays contained to the switchboard. Depending on what it powers, the practical consequences can include:
- A production line or piece of machinery shutting down mid-run
- Refrigeration or cold storage losing power, putting stock at risk
- Point-of-sale, security, or access systems going offline
- A site being evacuated or closed while the fault is located and made safe
None of these outcomes require a fire to happen. A loose connection, an overloaded circuit, or a failing component can cause any of them on its own, and the business impact starts the moment the power does.
Which businesses feel this the hardest
Some types of business carry more exposure to this than others.
Food and beverage businesses
Commercial kitchens, restaurants and cafes, bakeries, and breweries and other food and beverage processors all run equipment that needs continuous heat or power. A fault that trips an oven mid-bake or cuts power to an extraction system during service is not a minor inconvenience. It can mean lost stock, a closed kitchen, or a health and safety issue on top of the repair itself.
Cold storage and laundry operations
Cold storage and refrigeration facilities, laundromats, and larger commercial laundries depend on power that never drops out. A short outage can mean spoiled stock, a backlog of orders, or product held at the wrong temperature for long enough to matter.
Trades and heavy industry
Cabinet making and joinery workshops, boatbuilders, metal fabrication and engineering shops, panel beaters and auto body shops, and print and signage companies all rely on heavy machinery that cannot be switched off and picked back up without cost. A fault here often means a production line, a paint booth, or a piece of specialist equipment sitting idle until an electrician clears it.
For businesses like these, an electrical fault does not just interrupt admin work. It stops the equipment the business is built around.
Three-phase systems and higher loads carry higher stakes
Industrial and commercial sites typically run higher electrical loads than a residential property, often through three-phase power and larger distribution boards supporting multiple pieces of equipment at once, whether that is oven lines in a bakery, refrigeration compressors in cold storage, or heavy machinery in a fabrication or joinery workshop. A fault in a system carrying that much load tends to escalate faster, and affects more of the site, than the same fault would in a small residential switchboard. This is one of the reasons periodic verification is treated as routine maintenance in many industrial settings, in the same category as servicing machinery, rather than as an occasional compliance exercise.
Where thermal imaging fits in
A standard visual check can identify obvious problems: exposed wiring, visible damage, incorrect labelling. It cannot see what is happening inside a switchboard or behind a distribution board cover. Thermal imaging closes that gap by detecting heat anomalies that indicate an overloaded circuit, a loose connection, or a component that is starting to fail, often well before it would otherwise be noticed, whether that is a loose connection behind a commercial oven, a refrigeration circuit under strain, or a heavily loaded distribution board in a busy workshop.
This is why every Electrical Periodic Verification we carry out includes thermal imaging as standard, whether the site is a single-tenant warehouse or a multi-board industrial facility.
What a periodic verification actually delivers
An AS/NZS 3019 periodic verification results in a clear Pass or Fail outcome, supported by prioritised recommendations where issues are found. For a business, that report is useful well beyond the inspection date itself:
- It gives facilities staff or a contractor a documented starting point for any remedial work
- It satisfies insurer requirements without relying on a general visual assessment
- It travels with the business if insurance is reviewed or shopped around, rather than being tied to a single policy
The goal is the same whether the finding is a Pass or a Fail: a business owner or property manager should know exactly where they stand, rather than assuming everything is fine because nothing has gone wrong yet.
Building it into ongoing operations
For a single site, a periodic verification is usually scheduled around insurance renewal or a known risk factor, such as an older installation or a recent equipment upgrade. For a property manager or business overseeing several sites, the more practical approach is a rolling schedule, so that verification records stay current across the portfolio rather than being addressed reactively after an incident or a tenancy change.
Frequently asked questions
Does an electrical fault have to cause a fire to disrupt a business?
No. A fault can trip a circuit, damage equipment, or force a shutdown well before it reaches the point of starting a fire. The operational disruption and the fire risk are related, but the first can happen without the second.
How is this different from what an insurer might already offer?
Some insurers provide their own electrical risk review as part of a commercial policy. That is a genuine benefit, but it is generally scoped to the insurer's own underwriting needs rather than a full independent assessment. We covered this distinction in more detail in our earlier post on insurer-provided electrical inspections.
Can this be scheduled without disrupting our operating hours?
In most cases, yes. We work with commercial and industrial clients to schedule around operating hours, shift patterns, or planned maintenance windows wherever possible.
How often should a commercial or industrial site be verified?
This depends on the age of the installation, the electrical load involved, and any insurer requirements. Many commercial policies call for an annual verification, though higher-risk or older sites may warrant more frequent checks.
Which types of businesses face the highest exposure to this kind of risk?
Any business running continuous or heavy electrical loads carries more exposure than most. In our experience, that includes commercial kitchens, restaurants and cafes, bakeries, breweries and food and beverage processors, cold storage and refrigeration facilities, laundromats and commercial laundries, cabinet making and joinery workshops, boatbuilders, metal fabrication and engineering workshops, panel beaters and auto body shops, and print and signage companies. If your business relies on equipment that cannot simply be switched off and restarted without cost, periodic verification is worth treating as routine maintenance rather than an occasional compliance step.
