Lockout Tagout

At 6:52 p.m. on August 10, 2020, three (3) employees attempted to remove a clog from a hydrolyzed. A hydrolyzed apparatus is used to conduct the hydrolysis reaction in starch. The employees were unable to get the steam to release from the pressure vessel. Employee #1, a senior maintenance worker, made the decision to open…...

While cleaning an auger used to rice potatoes, a 39-year-old production worker found her left arm caught in a running auger. The worker suffered multiple lacerations and a partial amputation of her arm. Co-workers had to cut the auger apart to free her arm. An investigation in September 2020 by OSHA determined that the business…...

Most facilities will have a piece of equipment that is so large and complex that it will entail isolating many sources of all types of energy in order to get the entire system to a zero energy state (ZES).  But what do we do when we have a task that involves exposure to only one…...

This is SIGNIFICANT for those who truly believe in the purpose and function of OSHA’s LOTO standard.  I was never more disappointed in an ALJ than after they decided to vacate such a clear violation of LOTO.  I may have even said, “Why do lawyers/judges make for bad safety professionals.”  This fatality involved an apprentice…...

Have you ever been told… “it moves too slow to be a hazard”?  If you stay in the safety profession long enough, you will be presented with this viewpoint.  But LOTO is NEVER about how slow something moves; there is no exemption in the standard for such a thing.  Here is a case we can…...

If we had a dime for each time we get pushback on the most fundamental aspect of Lockout/Tagout (LOTO), we could all retire!  NEVER is an authorized employee allowed to work under someone else lock – PERIOD!  When servicing and maintenance that requires LOTO is performed, then EACH authorized worker MUST HAVE EXCLUSIVE CONTROL of…...

LOTO locks can be keyed alike.  For example, equipment/field locks can all be keyed to a SINGLE key; however, personal/individual locks MUST BE individually keyed (e.g., 1 key – 1 lock).  Before starting work ask yourself this simple but very important question: Do I have EXCLUSIVE/SOLE control of each and every isolation device protecting ME? …...