In a machine room from my past, that no longer exists, a security guard groped for the light switch and powered down the research data center using the emergency switch despite its switch cover - rather obviously the lights did not come on although several smaller ones went off
. So the guard groped further and found the light switch and realized that the wrong switch had been used so switched it back on again and went on his way not realizing the chaos caused by the few minutes interruption and uncontrolled restoration.
This sounds like a similar occurrence.