Lockout Tagout

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…...

It is the year 2018 – OSHA promulgated its Control of Hazardous Energy standard (1910.147) in 1989.  That means we should have been practicing LOTO for nearly 29 years, and yet we continue to see unreal failures related to workers performing servicing and maintenance without “locking it out.”  This week’s Incident Alerts contained an incident…...

This report presents the results of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) “Lookback” review of the Agency’s Control of Hazardous Energy Sources standard, also known as the Lockout/Tagout standard. The standard, which is codified in OSHA’s general industry standards at 29 CFR 1910.14 7, establishes requirements employers must follow to disable machinery and equipment…...

As the debate continues about using “clamshells” as a lockout device, our behind-the-scenes discussions continue regarding OSHA’s use of the term “Substantial”. The discussion was so good I asked if I could summarize and post it to keep the discussions going. So once again, here is OSHA’s definition of a “Lockout device”: A device that…...

Way back in April 2016, the OSHRC published a decision that settled the argument about LOTO procedures for “specific equipment/machines” and what they must contain.  This important decision helped settle a lot of scuttlebutt about how LOTO gets managed in “complex” situations.  I like to explain to clients that LOTO in a chemical process is…...