Introduction
As products become increasingly “smart” and electrified—from electric vehicles to wearable medical devices—the complexity of their electrical systems grows. An Electrical Risk Assessment (ERA) is a systematic process used to identify, evaluate, and control hazards associated with electrical energy.
In a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) framework, an ERA is not a one-time event but a continuous discipline. It ensures that the “As-Designed” electrical architecture does not pose a threat of shock, fire, or catastrophic system failure. By integrating electrical risk data into the Digital Thread, companies can ensure that every wire, circuit breaker, and battery cell is validated against the highest safety standards.
Key Hazards in Electrical Risk Assessment
An effective assessment must cover a broad spectrum of potential electrical failures:
1. Electric Shock and Electrocution
Evaluating the insulation and grounding of a product to prevent users from coming into contact with live parts.
- Analysis: Creepage and clearance distance evaluation.
2. Fire and Thermal Hazards
Identifying points of high resistance or potential short circuits that could lead to overheating and combustion.
- Analysis: Overcurrent protection validation and thermal mapping.
3. Arc Flash and Explosion
In high-power industrial equipment or EV batteries, the risk of an arc flash (a sudden release of energy through the air) must be mitigated.
4. Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)
Risk is not always a physical shock; sometimes it is “invisible.” EMC analysis ensures that the device doesn’t emit signals that interfere with other critical systems (like an airplane’s navigation) or that external signals don’t cause the device to malfunction.
The Strategic Role of ERA in the Product Lifecycle
| Lifecycle Phase | ERA Activity | Strategic Impact |
| Requirements | Definition of Safety Limits | Setting the “guardrails” for voltage and current early. |
| Design | Circuit Simulation | Identifying “hot spots” and potential shorts in a virtual environment. |
| Testing | Dielectric & Hipot Testing | Physically stressing the insulation to ensure it meets safety requirements. |
| Operation | Predictive Monitoring | Using sensors (IIoT) to detect abnormal electrical patterns before failure. |
Compliance with Global Electrical Standards
ERA is the primary tool for achieving certification in several key standards:
- IEC 60601: Essential for medical electrical equipment safety.
- ISO 26262: Focusing on functional safety in the electrical/electronic systems of road vehicles.
- IEC 61010: Safety requirements for electrical equipment for measurement and laboratory use.
How Visure Solutions Orchestrates Electrical Risk Assessment
Visure Requirements ALM Platform provides the structured environment needed to manage the high-stakes data of electrical risks:
- Linkage to Component Library: Visure allows you to link specific electrical risks to individual components in your Bill of Materials (BoM). If a specific capacitor is known to have a risk of leakage, that risk is tracked everywhere that part is used.
- Mitigation Traceability: When an electrical hazard is identified (e.g., “Risk of Overvoltage”), Visure ensures that a mitigation requirement is created (e.g., “Implement Zener Diode Protection”) and, crucially, that a test case exists to verify it.
- Automated Safety Checklists: Visure can automate the compliance checklists for standards like IEC 60601, ensuring that no electrical safety requirement is overlooked during the design phase.
- EMC Management: Track EMC test results directly against regulatory requirements, providing a clear audit trail for certification bodies.
- Real-Time Risk Alerts: If an electrical test fails during the validation phase, Visure can automatically flag the associated risk level as “Critical,” alerting the entire engineering team via the Digital Thread.
Conclusion
An Electrical Risk Assessment is the foundation of reliability for any modern electronic product. It transforms the “danger” of electricity into a controlled and managed engineering parameter. By conducting these assessments within the PLM lifecycle, companies protect their customers, their brand, and their bottom line.
Using Visure to manage electrical risks ensures that safety is never a “last-minute fix.” Instead, safety becomes a data-driven discipline that empowers engineers to build more powerful, efficient, and innovative products with the absolute certainty that they are safe to the core.
Check out the 14-day free trial at Visure and experience how AI-driven change control can help you manage changes faster, safer, and with full audit readiness.
