Lockout Tagout

OSHA promulgated the LOTO standard in 1989, nearly 30 years ago, and yet…  This is the “classic failure” that brought about the LOTO standard – employee kills employee – so when your employees say it never happens, you can provide this. At 11:57 a.m. on December 27, 2016, an employee was performing a salt flush on…...

In OSHA’s LOTO standard (1910.147), the agency included in their definition of a “lockout device” a “blank flange” and “bolted slip blind” when in fact, these devices are actually “energy isolation devices.”  So why would OSHA consider these devices a “lockout device”? NOTE:  I am not in agreement with this and have never called a “blank…...

In the Final Rule, OSHA determined that lockout is a surer means of ensuring equipment is de-energized than tagout and is the preferred method. However, the Agency also recognized that tagout will nonetheless need to be used instead of lockout where the energy control device cannot accept a locking device. Where an energy control device…...

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has released the panel investigation report into the November 20, 2014, explosion and fatality on a platform. The explosion occurred on West Delta Block 105 Platform E, resulting in the tragic death of Jerrel Hancock.  Mr. Hancock, a Turnkey Cleaning Services supervisor, died after an explosion inside…...

So does every single energy isolation REQUIRE a written procedure/plan that identifies the types of energy, their magnitude, the means used to isolate them, and the means used to verify zero energy state (ZES)?  YES… there is ONLY ONE (1) special exemption that excuses us from having a task-specific isolation procedure/ plan, and that exemption…...

This week OSHA issued a willful violation for Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) deficiencies involving a spray dryer absorber (SDA) at a power generation plant.  What is shocking is the fact that a 46-year-old worker lost four (4) fingers on his right hand in the December 2015 accident. During the course of its investigation into the December 2015 accident, OSHA…...

This was a significant decision by the OSHRC as it answered the debate… do isolation plans associated with complex energy isolations need to include the means to verify Zero Energy State (ZES) for each isolated source?  There answer… YES, and it MUST be DOCUMENTED in the isolation plan/worksheet.  The refinery’s arguments that the means to…...

WARNING!  This variance applies ONLY to Nucor Steel Connecticut Incorporated at its Wallingford, CT facility and the SPECIFIC TASK listed. It can NOT be adopted by anyone else or any other workplace (NOT even another Nucor facility) in any fashion whatsoever.   This information is being shared for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY as OSHA allows the use…...

This incident is a PERFECT example of what can happen when STORED ENERGY is overlooked.  For energy sources like hydraulics and pneumatic (e.g., gases), merely closing a valve and locking it closed or locking out a pump is NOT full energy control.  Procedures MUST include the means to dissipate the stored energy to the Zero…...