Lockout Tagout

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…...

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,…...

I like direct statements and clear concise rules when it comes to drawing the lines of safety and production and maintenance.  But too often, these lines get drawn in the wrong spot and cause safety all kinds of issues and let’s admit it… gives safety a bad name.  One such line is when lockoout/tagout (LOTO)…...

It is important to emphasize that the machine guarding requirements of 29 CFR Part 1910, Subpart O standards COMPLEMENT THE REQUIREMENTS for LOTO. In some instances, an employer may avoid the requirements of the LOTO, if they ELIMINATE exposure to servicing and maintenance hazards by using machine guarding techniques compliant with those standards.   It is also important to…...

Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) STARTS WITH machine gaurding. Yes, MACHINE GAURDING – we can not even begin to speak of LOTO until we first have the forms of hazardous energy properly gaurded for our NORMAL OPERATIONS.  Because when the machine/equipment is being used for its inteded purpose(s) (e.g. Normal Operations) we are FIRST REQUIRED to ensure that…...