FM Global Is Watching. Here Is What Facilities Teams Need to Know.
For decades, NFPA 70B was a recommended practice. That changed on January 1, 2023.
The 2023 edition of NFPA 70B, Standard for Electrical Equipment Maintenance, replaced every “should” with “shall.” Annual infrared thermography inspections of all electrical equipment are no longer a best practice — they are a mandatory requirement. Equipment in degraded condition (NFPA’s “Condition 3”) requires scanning every six months, not twelve.
At the same time, FM Global Data Sheet 5-20 — the benchmark loss prevention standard for property insurers — recommends IR scanning of all electrical equipment, with frequency tied directly to previous inspection results. For organizations carrying FM Global coverage, compliance with their electrical testing guidance is not optional. It is a condition of maintaining favorable terms.
The compliance window is not theoretical. It is already in effect.
The Problem With Traditional IR Scanning
Annual IR scanning sounds straightforward. In practice, it is anything but.
Load requirements. Infrared thermography requires equipment to be operating under normal load conditions to produce meaningful results. Inspections conducted on weekends or during off-peak hours — when loads are low — can miss the very faults the scan is supposed to detect. Scheduling around true operating conditions takes coordination.
Energized work exposure. Most IR scanning still requires opening panel covers while equipment is live. Under NFPA 70E, this means arc flash boundaries, appropriate PPE, and qualified personnel. For many facilities, this is a real safety and liability concern — not just a scheduling inconvenience.
Annual cost. Commercial IR scanning for industrial and large commercial facilities typically runs $20,000 to $35,500 per visit and go far higher than this beyond a small facility. The price depends on the system complexity and scope. That is a recurring line item, every year, before remediation costs on any findings.
Findings without context. A IR scanning report tells you where heat anomalies exist at a single point in time. It does not tell you how a fault developed, how quickly conditions changed since the last inspection, or what happened in between. That gap is where failures occur.
For most facilities teams, the result is a compliance program built around annual snapshots — expensive to execute, logistically complicated, and blind between visits.
There Is a Better Way to Stay Compliant
APT’s SwitchMon® solution provides continuous, automated monitoring of electrical switchgear and distribution equipment, giving facilities teams real-time visibility into the conditions that IR scanning can only capture once a year.
SwitchMon® uses permanent thermal and electrical sensors installed on panels, switchgear, and distribution equipment — monitoring temperature, load, and operating conditions continuously without the need for annual site visits, panel openings, or energized work scheduling. When anomalous conditions develop, SwitchMon® alerts the team immediately, not at the next inspection cycle.
What this means for NFPA 70B compliance: Continuous monitoring directly supports the equipment condition assessment framework at the core of NFPA 70B 2023. Rather than relying on point-in-time snapshots to classify equipment condition, SwitchMon® provides ongoing data to document system health, flag deteriorating conditions, and create the audit-ready maintenance records NFPA 70B requires.
What this means for FM Global: FM Global’s Data Sheet 5-20 guidance emphasizes condition-based maintenance and the use of diagnostic technologies to reduce property loss exposure. Continuous monitoring through SwitchMon® directly aligns with that framework, providing defensible, documented evidence of proactive electrical system oversight.
What this means for your team: Fewer scheduled site visits. Reduced energized work exposure. Continuous documentation. And a compliance posture that is proactive rather than reactive.
The Bottom Line
A single electrical fault that goes undetected between annual inspections can trigger a cascade: unplanned downtime, emergency repair costs, equipment replacement, insurance complications, and in the worst cases, fire or arc flash events with consequences that are simply incalculable. Annual IR scanning helps find faults once a year. SwitchMon® monitors for them every day.
Ready to See What Continuous Monitoring Looks Like for Your Facility?
APT can show you how a continuous monitoring program delivers a stronger ROI than periodic scanning alone: constant visibility into equipment conditions, proactive identification of developing faults, a defensible maintenance record that satisfies NFPA 70B requirements, and no more scheduling energized work once a year and hoping nothing changed since the last visit.
Download the SwitchMon® Solution Sheet or contact APT to schedule a brief assessment.
