Lockout Tagout

One of the most overlooked LOTO program requirements is the “Means to Enforce”. OSHA regulations state the following about procedures to enforce the program…

I need to put a disclaimer on this one…this video is from Canada. Although their LOTO principles are the same as OSHA’s, you must refer to your country’s LOTO standards to ensure your facility complies with the applicable regulations. If your country does not have OHS standards, you should consider adopting some for your facility,

Sawmill Accident Investigation. This slide show describes two accidents, each where a worker lost a limb following an improper lockout.

Those of you that get my Incident Alerts or participate in the Safety Engineering Network Linked In Forum have seen the recent accident that involved a 61-year-old supervisor with over 40 years of experience at the plant which was killed when he entered a plastic molding press using an “open door” that was “interlocked” and

We continue to see businesses using many methods to identify their lockout locks, many of which are NOT acceptable to OSHA.  1910.147(c)(5)(ii)(B) states: Lockout and tagout devices shall be standardized within the facility in at least one of the following criteria: color; shape; or size… Most businesses use color, and we can have multiple colors

We continue to see businesses using tagout when locks can be used and they dispute us when we attempt to explain to them that locks MUST be used when they can, UNLESS the employer can show that their tags are EQUALLY effective as a lock.  OSHA REQUIRES Tag-Plus-One when using a tag in these situations. 

Some may think this is crazy, I do; but I have had many debates with businesses during audits and serious accident investigations around this argument.  There are a lot of mind-sets in plants that have many presses that LOTO does not apply to this task as it would slow production too much and put them

Let’s set the record straight… “Line of sight” is HALF THE REQUIREMENT, and this term is NOT in any official language from OSHA, nor does OSHA recognize it! We see this all the time…a LOTO procedure talks about cord and plug equipment not needing to be locked out if the worker is in the “line

Can businesses use tagout when lockout can be used on the energy isolation device? Simply stated, locks MUST be used when they can, UNLESS the employer can demonstrate that their tagout will PROVIDE FULL EMPLOYEE PROTECTION. Here is the exact language from 29 CFR 1910.147:

WARNING!!! This is a REAL 911 call from a gentleman who lost his life after a belt tore his arm off at a concrete plant. The call was edited to remove the worker’s name and other personal information (e.g., mentions of wife and kids’ names), and it was cut off to end before the man

Some companies develop an elaborate generic energy control procedure and supplement the generic procedure with checklists or appendices to address various distinct machinery and equipment in their facilities. This type of procedure and those described above may be considered a single energy control procedure (instead of multiple procedures) for inspection purposes if all of the