Steels that are subjected to certain processing conditions can become embrittled, resulting in significant reduction in impact toughness. When subjected to normal service conditions, embrittled components can undergo catastrophic failure, leading to possible injury, time-consuming shutdown and expensive repairs. When failure occurs to a component, a logical approach is prudent for identifying the physical cause so that effective corrective measures can be undertaken. The proper use of chemical analysis, stereomicroscopic examination, high magnification fracrography, mechanical testing and metallographic techniques will often reveal the mode of a failure, and the application of engineering principles and common sense will enable the analyst to provide viable solutions. This article details a few illustrative examples of fracture failures in embrittled steels.