Lockout Tagout

WOW… just WOW!  I feel like I am in the twilight zone after reading this decision.  I am not a big fan of government shutdowns, but right now, I wish the OSHRC would get shut down.  It is rare, but it does happen when I take serious issues with decisions of the OSHRC, and this…...

In this last part of 2018, I have been on a LOTO crusade; I have been to 12 different facilities since August to help them understand LOTO.  Some projects were complete new builds, some were to help with implementing Group LOTO, and a few were to training company safety professionals on the OSHA requirements so…...

One of my favorite courses to teach is my LOTO Overview course, where I try and convey the OSHA minimum requirements for a functioning Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) program, and each time I do this course I always tell my “water fountain story” from my days at Great Lakes Chemical.  My plant manager at GLCC was a…...

Recent technological advancements that employ computer-based controls of hazardous energy (e.g., mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, chemical, and radiation) conflict with OSHA’s existing lock-out/tag-out standard. These computer-based controls have become more prevalent as equipment manufacturers modernize their designs. Additionally, national consensus standards and international standards harmonization govern the design and use of computer-based controls. This approach of…...

This is a follow-up to a previously posted case.  An electrical contractor at a steel mill was in a danger zone when the mill technician began locking out the equipment.  The LOTO procedure required some counterweights to be lowered to the ground (i.e., ZES).  When the mill technician released the counterweight, an apprentice with the…...

Recent technological advancements that employ computer-based controls of hazardous energy (e.g., mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, chemical, and radiation) conflict with OSHA’s existing lock-out/tag-out standard. These computer-based controls have become more prevalent as equipment manufacturers modernize their designs. Additionally, national consensus standards and international standards harmonization govern the design and use of computer-based controls. This approach of…...

One of the most abused practices involving LOTO is the “myth” that LOTO does not apply when the “energy source” is “under the control of and within line-of-sight of the person performing the activity.”  As OSHA points out in this 2007 LOI, this is not necessarily the case:… Membership Required You must be a member...

OSHA’s standard for the Control of Hazardous Energy allows us three (3) means in which we can identify our Lockout locks: 1910.147(c)(5)(ii)(B) Standardized. Lockout and tagout devices shall be standardized within the facility in at least one of the following criteria: Color; shape; or size; and additionally, in the case of tagout devices, print and format…...

Those of us under Federal OSHA can let our contractors follow their own LOTO program/practices AS LONG AS they explain them to us.  However, in some states, their OSHA plan requires contractors to support the “on-site employer’s” LOTO program.  As I have written about, most workplaces struggle to manage their contractors PROPERLY when LOTO is…...

If you are a LOTO fanatic, you most likely have heard the “rumor” that OSHA is considering some significant changes to the application of LOTO.  These changes center around using “interlocks” in lieu of locking out the machine/equipment.  In essence, there are some who are “lobbying” OSHA to allow interlocks to be used in situations…...