How to Write Better Lockout/Tagout Procedures

Protecting your most valuable assets

Lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedures are common in industrial and manufacturing environments. Despite this, failure to adequately train employees on LOTO procedures continues to be one of the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s (OSHA) top 10 most frequently cited violations during federal inspections.

To write an effective LOTO procedure requires both an understanding of OSHA’s guidelines, as well as good communication and training practices. By combining these strategies, manufacturing companies can ensure the health and safety of their workforce while maintaining operational efficiency.

…

Want to continue?

By logging in you agree to receive communication from Quality Digest. Privacy Policy.

Create a FREE account

Forgot My Password

Comments

A very important topic

Lockout/tagout exemplifies what was called "Can't rather than don't" at the Ford Motor Company almost 100 years ago. The idea is that, instead of telling workers "Don't turn on the machine when somebody is working on it," you lock out all the electrical and mechanical energy sources so they can't turn on the machine. As the author points out, however, this is among the most frequent OSHA violations and a tuna worker was killed not that long ago as a result of the oven he was working on not being locked out. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bumble-bee-foods-2-managers-charge… This should have been easily preventable through the techniques discussed in this article.

I shared the link to this article on LinkedIn and it is well worth reading.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing your insight and that example, William. It's unfortunate to hear of those preventable incidents and hopefully, the industry can continue to evolve in the right direction. "Can't rather than don't" is a great way to put it!

It's clear that OSHA fines only go so far as to incentivize good practices. I'm curious, from your experience what are the most common reasons companies fail to establish/maintain more effective LOTO procedures?

I don't know why LOTO is not used more widely

It is one of the most commonly cited OSHA violations. It's possible that pure ignorance is involved, and/or people don't want to take the time to do it right. If done properly, though, it can make safety incidents close to impossible. A machine with zero electrical and mechanical potential can't do much of anything to anybody.