Luckily, these kinds of encounters are dwindling, but even mentioning this in 2019 says a lot for the “State of Safety” in the USA. Have you ever encountered a management group where you hoped Dr. Suess would re-write the OSHA LOTO Std? I mean, they hire us to explain and assist in implementing the basic…...
Since I shared my article last week on OSHA’s position of NOT allowing “exclusive control” to be carried over to process valves like we do with “cord and plug” electrical equipment, my international friends and clients have been having quite the chuckle at us here in the USA. They all say virtually the same thing……...
A 41year old female was fatally injured when she was crushed between a pallet lift and the frame of the machine. The victim was a temporary employee assigned to operate a machine called a pallet de-stacker. The overall process utilizes three stationary conveyor platforms and one conveyor platform fitted with a scissor-style lift (scissor-lift platform)…....
A 41year old female was fatally injured when she was crushed between a pallet lift and the frame of the machine. The victim was a temporary employee assigned to operate a machine called a pallet de-stacker. The overall process utilizes three stationary conveyor platforms and one conveyor platform fitted with a scissor-style lift (scissor-lift platform)…....
At approximately 9:30 p.m. on June 30, 1993, Employee #1, a cleaning contractor, was cleaning up the “cut floor” at a beef facility in Council Bluffs, IA. The facility maintenance employees were removing an ammonia valve from the refrigerant line in the ceiling and had NOT locked or tagged out the isolation valves on the roof. The…...
The company retained a contractor to provide industrial cleaning services at the plant. An employee of the cleaning service was working alone, cleaning the area around various injection molding machines. The worker approached the robot cage at an injection molding machine, intending to enter for cleaning purposes. Two robots located inside the cage pick, trim…...
OSHA is considering whether to initiate rulemaking to revise its control of hazardous energy standard for general industry. One aim of this RFI is to seek public comment on the modernization of the control of hazardous energy standard without compromising worker safety. OSHA is requesting information from the public on its control of hazardous energy…...
Today, OSHA announced it is requesting information on a possible update to the Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout (LOTO)) standard. The Agency is interested in comments on the use of CONTROL CIRCUIT-TYPE DEVICES to isolate energy, as well as the evolving technology for ROBOTICS. OSHA is requesting information about how employers have been using control circuit…...
Just in case you missed the news today… OSHA will NOT finalize its proposal to remove the word “UNEXPECTED” from the control of hazardous energy (LOTO) standard but will further consider this issue in light of the overall standard. Here is their rationale for this decision at this time… OSHA proposed making changes to subpart J of part 1910—General…...
This incident is one I call attention to as it involved a lack of LOTO during removal of a valve on a hot water system. OSHA issued a Willful citation because the work was done without having an energy isolation control panel/task specific LOTO procedures. The work was done from an aerial lift without LOTO…...
This week we saw OSHA issue $300K in citations to a MS papermill, of which LOTO was an area that was cited. One particular situation that caught my eye was the citation regarding “troubleshooting” behind a guard…. (see item (a) below)… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log...
Recently I came across a situation at a facility that is NOT all that uncommon and we need to spread the word. It involves using an electrical disconnect on an electrical panel door. As you will see in the STAGED video (NO one was at risk in the video) that I turned the disconnect off,…...
