5 Reasons Why Your Business Needs lockout tagout padlock？

Importance

One of the most common workplace hazards is the release of hazardous energy during maintenance or repair work on machinery or equipment. This can result in serious injuries or even fatalities if proper safety procedures are not followed. One important safety measure to prevent such accidents is the implementation of lockout tagout (LOTO) procedures. By locking and tagging the machinery or equipment and isolating it from energy sources, LOTO reduces the risks of accidents and injuries. It also reduces the need for costly repairs or replacements and extends the lifespan of equipment.

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Establishing an efficient and safe LOTO program is crucial for organizations to protect their workforce and ensure compliance with occupational safety regulations. Without a well-defined LOTO procedure, employees may be unaware of the dangers posed by uncontrolled hazardous energy, increasing the likelihood of workplace incidents. A strong LOTO program not only enforces proper safety protocols but also fosters a culture of accountability and awareness.

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LOTO Standards

Lockout Tagout and Machine Guarding

Though the machine guarding standard covers exposure to hazardous energy during normal production operations, it is important to remember that the OSHA lockout tagout standard (instead of the machine guarding standard) will apply during normal production operations if:

• the employee is required to bypass or remove machine guarding
• the employee could be injured due to the sudden energization of equipment

OSHA Lockout Tagout Standard

The OSHA lockout tagout standard generally applies to any activity in which the sudden energization or startup of equipment and machinery could harm employees.

What are LOTO Devices?

Employers are required by the OSHA standard to provide lockout tagout devices that are durable, standardized, substantial, and identifiable. LOTO devices cannot be reused. The following information is primarily based on the OSHA lockout tagout standard:

What is an Energy Isolating Device?

These devices help ensure that energy isolation points are secure.

Energy isolating devices DO NOT INCLUDE push buttons, selector switches, and other control circuit type devices.

What is a Lockout Device?

A lockout device is a device that utilizes a positive means to hold an energy isolating device in a safe position and prevents the energization of equipment and machinery. Examples of lockout devices are padlocks, blank flanges, and bolted slip blinds.

Padlocks

In contrast to ordinary padlocks, these must be issued and standardized by the employer. They must only be used for lockout purposes and are distinguishable from all other types of padlocks in the workplace. Key-retaining padlocks are best for lockout purposes to ensure that the padlock is locked before the key can be removed.

What is a Tagout Device?

A tagout device is a prominent warning device that can be securely fastened to an energy isolating device and indicates that both the equipment and the energy isolating device cannot be operated.

Tags

Tags are vital because they act as warnings against potential hazardous conditions when equipment or machines are energized. They provide vital information on the lockout condition of equipment in maintenance and can even contain a photo of the one responsible for specific equipment.

What is a LOTO Box?

Also known as a lockbox or a group lockout box, a LOTO box is used when equipment has several isolation points that need to be secured (with their own energy isolating, lockout, and tagout devices) before it can be locked out. This is referred to as a group lockout or a group isolation.

7 Steps of Lockout Tagout Procedure

A lock out tag out procedure is a list of steps taken in the workplace by different industries to help keep machines and equipment from unintentional energization while they are under maintenance or repair. Also known as LOTO steps, follow this comprehensive guide on how to properly shut down equipment:

Step 1: Preparation – During this stage, the authorized employee should investigate to identify the equipment, machine, or process to be shut down. As a safety measure, this step should also recognize which energy resources must be controlled and highlight all the potential hazards that come with it.

Step 2: Notification – In the second stage, all affected personnel should be notified of the shutdown. Essential items to communicate can include information such as the equipment to be locked out, the reason behind it, the estimated time frame of the shutdown, the authorized personnel for the shutdown, as well as who to contact for clarifications and questions.

Step 3: Shutdown – After the planning stage, the actual equipment shutdown begins. For this process, follow the shutdown procedures established by the manufacturer or the workplace itself. Turn off the controls and make sure that all the running parts of the equipment come to a total stop.

Step 4: Isolation – This stage, also called de-energization—is the part where the authorized person will be needing to remove the equipment from any energy sources it is connected to. Some equipment may need to be shut down by turning off power from the breaker or by simply shutting a valve.

Step 5: Dissipation – In simpler terms, this is the process of removing possible residual energy still in the equipment. Depending on the type of equipment or power source, residual energy can either be disconnected, restrained, relieved, or made non-hazardous.

Step 6: Lockout/Tagout – During this actual lockout/tagout stage, the equipment is locked using energy-isolating devices. The tag to be attached, meanwhile, should contain the name of the person who performed the lockout and other additional information needed.

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Don’t assume everyone understands the importance of lockout/tagout procedures! Here are 5 crucial reasons why lockout/tagout training is important in industrial settings.

Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) is a necessary part of working in industrial settings. These practices are required to protect everyone who works with and around potentially dangerous equipment. For that reason, it is important that training takes place for employees authorized to carry out LOTO procedures as well as employees who will be affected by the use of these practices. But we can break down the importance of LOTO training beyond general safety and into five categories of crucial importance.

1. Maintenance and Testing

While you are running through training, the team effort allows for all the relevant parties to assess any potential issues with the equipment. It is always a good idea to know what problems you are likely to face when working with machinery, so training can be a perfect time troubleshoot your technology while using the LOTO procedure. As LOTO is about reducing the risks of hazardous energy, it is helpful to know how equipment is working.

Going through the process of demonstrating a lockout/tagout procedure makes you stop and focus. With a more meticulous training assessment where other people are looking on with authorized employees, it can be easier to identify issues. Even with proper shut off procedures, hazards can still crop up when equipment is malfunctioning. You could also have broken LOTO devices causing issues. Training directs focus, and with that, you can anticipate hazards from damaged or improperly functioning equipment.

2. Increased Familiarity with Relevant Devices

It is easy to take it for granted that employees will know the right way to use LOTO devices, but when it comes to safety, you never want to rely on assumptions. The best way to know that everyone using the tags and locks correctly is to train everyone on the usage. Not only how things are meant to affix to equipment and machinery but also the mistakes that can be made.

Everyone who is trying to follow the rules thinks they are following the rules. Training allows everyone to check up on one another. This is also very important for getting workers familiar with common misconceptions about the devices. How tags can fall off and the devices that require group lockouts. There may also be certain equipment that is rarely used, so training might be the only opportunity to practice procedure with it before use becomes a necessity.

3. Improved Issue Identification

With everyone trained on the expectations and usage of lockout/tagout practices, there will be more people that can tell when something's not right. A team is only as strong as its weakest link, and sometimes that link can be higher up in the chain. Because daily operations will limit the use of LOTO procedures to authorized workers, training might be the only opportunity affected workers will get to become familiar with the protocols being used for their benefit.

Safety meetings can be significantly improved by having more employees be knowledgeable about the safety expectations of their peers and their superiors. More people can have something to say about the way procedures are being used and feel more involved and invested in these meetings. Training in this way creates safety nets for human error. Expecting perfection is a great way to keep yourself blind to problems. Anticipate the need for universal oversight, and if the authorized users never have an issue, you can have that fact corroborated throughout the chain of command.

4. Make the Process Less Daunting

Anything can seem complicated if you have no experience with it. What training does is demystify the procedures. It allows for questions to be asked and mistakes to be made when they will not be harmful or lead to a tremendous disaster. But along with making those using the LOTO procedures comfortable with using them, it can also make supervisors or at ease about inspections and general safety.

LOTO inspections should take place once a year, and when training has not taken place effectively, everyone can be rather hesitant or stressed out about the processes. Instead of waiting for an assessment to tell you that mistakes have been made consistently or processes have been misunderstood, training can sort these issues out to avoid any type of post or pre-assessment unpleasantness.

5. Safety Plan Refinement

Training with safety gets everyone thinking about safety. While training with LOTO procedures you might find that you are unwittingly violating an OSHA requirement. Going around to simulate a practice LOTO inspection can double as a general practice safety inspection. Practice serves as a great reminder of what is expected in terms of safety.

You can also use training to find out what types of issues crew members are having when they use LOTO devices or procedures. If there is an issue with keys breaking off in locks, slowing down padlock removal or generally creating the problem of constantly replacing lockout equipment, you can work out procedures for when existing procedures go awry. Tags could be falling off all the time and require the use of secondary securing. Whatever the issue is with the plans you have, you can find them by training.

Final Thoughts

Always know what your intentions are when you undergo any type of security training. Don’t expect to get this type of information or these results without demonstrating your desire to get them. Training is also going to make you more effective at training. The more you do something, the better you will be at it.

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