Lockout Procedures to Follow

• Posted On: January 19, 2016

• Categorized In: Lockout/Tagout

• Written By: Lockout India

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Lockout means shutting out machines. An industrial machine shuts for maintenance and servicing activities. It is carried out as a safety measure. The maintenance workers might injure themselves by their sudden startup. There is a certain lockout procedure implemented during the whole process. This process is undertaken by following every known guideline as given by OSHA.

As Lockout India creates safety equipment for such processes, we believe that you, our beloved readers should have an idea of the procedures followed during the process. Please note that the steps we are about to mention are general guidelines or sample steps. In reality, something very close to them is followed because admit it, “field work is much different”.

We need to understand 3 main criteria’s while learning the procedure.

1. System – refers to the machines/equipment
2. Authorized Employee – refers to the expert who carries out the full procedure
3. Affected Employee – includes the workers, various staff members etc. who aren’t qualified to carry out the process

Lockout Procedures

Shutdown

1. The first step is to turn off all the energy sources from the operator’s panel. However, the authorized employee has to make sure that none of the affected employees are still operating as sudden power loss could lead to major accidents.
2. After power shut, notifying the affected employees is the next step. They are to leave their stations immediately and await further instructions.
3. The third step now is to shut down the whole system using normal stopping procedures like powering down, stoppers etc.

Lockout/Tag out

1. Firstly, isolate the system from any energy source. This process is called energy isolation.
2. Lockout and Tag out the system with appropriate safety products.
3. Release any stored energy from the springs, capacitors, hydraulics etc. This is very important as the residual energy in these parts could release automatically during maintenance and harm the crew.
4. Confirm that isolation has actually taken place by trying the equipment.
5. If system doesn’t start means it’s in lockdown mode.

Maintenance

Let the crew carry out maintenance and servicing.
In the meantime, continue your verifications through inspections, observations and tests.

Restarting the System

1. After maintenance, remove all the locks and tags.
2. Clear out all personnel and unnecessary items from the area.
3. The main system shall be then restarted.
4. Check whether all machines are working as they should.
5. Finally, notify all the employees to resume their work.

One main thing to be kept in mind is that sometimes the work scale is too big meaning multiple authorized employees are involved. However, the procedure is more-or-less ‘the same’. It is unfortunate to say that despite several listed Lockout Tag out procedures, every year thousands of work infringements take place due to non-compliance of appropriate protocols. We, thereby urge all those who are reading this and work in the industry to go through the guidelines provided by OSHA in detail. In case you need further help regarding Lockout Tag out and safety-insured products, ping us!

Checkout Our Other Lockout Tagout Products:

1. Scaffold Tag
2. MCB Lockout
3. Lockout Padlocks
4. Lockout Kit

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