Lockout Tagout Procedures
Every workplace has the need for ongoing maintenance. Installation, repair and servicing of machines and equipment may seem routine but can be dangerous to the employees performing the work.
Serious injury can be caused by the sudden and unexpected startup of the machinery or equipment, contact with live electrical circuits or the unexpected release of stored energy. Equipment that has been shut down may inadvertently be restarted or re-energized by a co-worker, or equipment that was thought to be shut down may be controlled by automatic processors, timers or computers and may restart automatically and without warning.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the failure to control hazardous energy sources has serious consequences:
- 10% of serious industrial accidents
- 28,000 lost workdays per year
- Approximately 120 deaths per year
Fortunately, these hazards can be avoided through the use of lockout/tagout procedures, in which the employee performing the work places a lock and a tag at any point where the equipment can be turned on or where any stored energy can be released. This keeps the equipment from being started during repair or maintenance.
Lockout/tagout procedures isolate energy and control machinery and equipment. Doing so helps to protect the employees servicing the equipment, the equipment itself and any equipment operators and bystanders.
It’s important for all employees to understand lockout/tagout procedures, how and when to use them and how to safely restart equipment and machinery. That’s the best way to ensure that everyone will stay safe.
The Blueprints for Safety© Lockout/Tagout Program will help you develop a program for using safe lockout/tagout procedures. It’s designed to present a simple, step-by-step approach that you can use to develop a program to provide employees with the training and tools they need to safely work on equipment and machinery that has been shut down.
The outcomes of your lockout/tagout program will be as follow:
- To understand the energy hazards of equipment that is not locked and tagged
- To know how to use lockout/tagout procedures to safely install and/or service equipment and machinery
By planning ahead—knowing the energy sources and how to control them with lockout/tagout procedures—you can make equipment installation and maintenance a safe part of the workday.
