The Personnel Director investigated a safety tip that a big electrical closet had a non-functioning door lock. She found this to be the case, and also reported to the plant engineer that she noticed “a faint electrical smell, maybe something burning.”
The chief electrician changed out the lock, and reported back there was no smell. The plant engineer sent two other electricians to investigate the smell, and again they detected nothing.
You’ve been tasked with closing this case. What should you do?
Women have more smell receptors than men, and generally are better at detecting odors. If all of the electricians were male, this could explain their finding nothing. But simply smelling isn’t the answer.
The tip is probably valid, and in any case you should proceed as if it is. Visual inspection is unlikely to find anything, but a good thermographic analysis will reveal any hot spots that are releasing the material(s) responsible for the smell.
Note that you have an abnormal condition, so treat the job as if an arc fault is impending (it very well may be!). Before anyone else enters that room, conduct a full hazard analysis per NFPA 70E, Art. 130.
