Hot Spots on Energized Switches: What They Signal, What Causes Them, and What Utilities Can Do Without Creating Unnecessary Outages
SPONSORED BY FIRSTPOWER GROUP
March 12th, 2026 @ 1PM ET
Hot Spots on Energized Switches: What They Signal, What Causes Them, and What Utilities Can Do Without Creating Unnecessary Outages
Which will include:
- Hot Spot Interpretation: Understand that thermal anomalies signify underlying system failures, not just elevated temperatures.
- Root Cause Analysis: Identify primary drivers of hot spots, such as mechanical resistance, corrosion, contamination, and lubricant failure.
- Field Recognition: Recognize early physical warning signs in the field to prevent equipment escalation or failure.
- Mitigation Strategy: Evaluate critical decision points to determine if a fix requires an outage or can be handled while energized.
- Standardized Framework: Implement the Identify → Verify → Stabilize → Prevent workflow for consistent issue management.
- Maintenance Optimization: Adopt best practices in lubrication and record-keeping to minimize repeat issues and improve switch reliability.
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DICA is expanding its product portfolio with the introduction of its own line of ground protection and site access mats. The new Ranger HD, Defender and Titan mats provide contractors with high-performance, cost-effective access options for a variety of jobsites. DICA will debut the company’s light-, medium- and heavy-duty mats in March at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026 in Las Vegas.
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The Buckingham 401SRK Self-Rescue System is an emergency descent device designed to allow workers to safely perform self-rescue from an elevated position when no third party is present. The system utilizes an all-aluminum descent control device (DCD) featuring an anti-panic brake that ensures a saf…
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In this episode of the Utility Safety Podcast, host Nick chats with Bill Martin, CUSP about a concept that goes far beyond the standard safety manual: the physics of human energy. Inspired by Nikola Tesla’s quote on energy, frequency, and vibration, Bill explains why workers are like “human tun…
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In this episode of Incident Prevention’s Utility Safety Podcast, host Kate Wade sits down with Tim Bedford, a 36-year veteran of PG&E and current Principal Customer Success Manager at Gridware. Together, they explore a critical new category of grid intelligence: Active Grid Response.
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