A method is provided for determining the operating status of a spring charging motor of a LV or MV switching apparatus. The method includes acquiring a detection signal (ID) indicative of the behavior of a driving current (IMOT); processing the detection signal (ID) to calculate a steady-state detection signal (IDSS) indicative of the behavior of the driving current (IMOT) during a steady-state time interval (TSS); processing the steady-state detection signal (IDSS) to calculate data (DS) indicative of HF and LF spectral components of the driving current (IMOT); processing the data (DS) to calculate first and second harmonic distortion values (THDLF, THDHF); processing the first and second harmonic distortion values to calculate first and second output data (O1, O2), which are indicative of the variations of the first and second harmonic distortion values with respect to corresponding first and second reference values, respectively.