Category Archives: Lockout

29CFR1910.147 Lockout/Tagout

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Twitt

Lockout Tagout procedures are of the utmost importance to business continuity and employee safety. It is for this reason that we have discussed it so many times on our blog already. In 2011, the standard which governs lockout tagout procedures, OSHA Standard 1910.147 The Control of Hazardous Energy, was the fourth most frequently violated standard. This standard alone accounted for almost 4,000 citations in that year. In addition, OSHA data shows that lockout/tagout noncompliance accounts for 120 fatalities and 50,000 injuries every year.

This is pretty sobering news if you are in an industry with machinery subject to lockout/tagout standards, and this list of industries is growing, as technology advances. If you are not sure if your machinery requires formal procedures with a visual placard, you need to immediately contact a professional who can better inform you about what is required of you by OSHA. And if you do need lockout/tagout procedures, and think you are up to code, it might be time to audit yourself, as most of those companies cited in 2011 thought that they were up to code, as well.

As an owner or member of management in your company, you can not leave the burden of responsibility solely on your maintenance personnel; you need to take an active role in overseeing compliance. The easiest way to do this is to routinely audit your machines and safety procedures, and consult with your maintenance staff to ensure there are no misunderstandings about the procedures.

In addition, you need to ensure that, as your machinery and uses change, your lockout/tagout needs are not changing. To do this, you need to either manually keep track of uses, surges, system downtime, and system changes, or utilize a program which can track this for you. Luckily, many companies offer such software to help you remain compliant and accident free. If you would like more information about our software, or about lockout/tagout in general, please contact us so that we may assist you. Together, we can reduce the number of injuries and citations caused by lockout/tagout procedure errors. If you have any helpful hints to help our readers avoid issues of noncompliance, please leave a comment.

Safety Software

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Twitt

One of the primary focuses we have here at PF Safety is lockout procedures. We have discussed this topic several times before because we take lockout tagout very seriously, as we understand the potential threat to your business and your employees should there ever be a lockout tagout miscalculation.

But as important and difficult as it is to properly comply with the standards initially, it can be even harder and vastly more important to sustain accurate procedures. An audit team such as ours can define your library and design proper placards, but it becomes your responsibility to monitor changes and redefine your procedure library over time. Now, the reason most companies hire professionals to set up their procedures initially is that it is so difficult to get a company up to speed in this critical area.

However, lockout tagout procedures are not suddenly learned when a company is brought up to code, and the same questions and uncertainties which caused a company to hire a professional are still present. What’s worse is that many business owners assume, because they have had a procedure put in place, they no longer need to worry about their lockout procedures and do not monitor them.

This can be an extremely costly mistake. It is imperative to consistently monitor your lockout tagout procedures, otherwise you will fall back out of compliance. Things change, and unless you are monitoring your machines night and day, something can get past you and create a very serious problem.

Fortunately, there is advanced monitoring software released by many companies which can help your company maintain compliant lockout tagout procedures. If you have any questions whatsoever regarding this extremely critical standard, please contact us. And, if you know of any other tips for maintaining compliance between audits, please post them in the comments.

Lockout Tagout Monitoring

Posted on by
Twitt

We have previously discussed OSHA lockout procedure requirements, as per OSHA 1910.147. In this post, we would like to discuss maintaining your OSHA compliance after initially getting yourself compliant. It is difficult – extremely difficult – to maintain your compliance without the help of either a dedicated representative (or, in some cases, dedicated team) or software designed to monitor your compliance.

Luckily, many companies have developed user friendly software which can handle this task. With this software, you can create a baseline representation of your company and update it as machinery, personnel, and responsibilities change. This allows you to keep a current and fully updated framework, with annotations that document the changes your company has made. Further, this software will often allow specific individuals to log in and have access in real time to the stored information.

This software is a great tool to monitor your compliance in between annual audits, and should be used in conjunction with annual audits, and only after completing a facility wide lockout program. Once you set your lockout program, schedule your annual audits, and begin using relevant software, you will be guarding yourself against unexpected or unforeseen safety risks.

If you are ready to get some more information about the cost saving, time saving, and headache saving software that we offer, take a look here to get more information. Then, contact us to get started. If you have any additional information pertaining to lockout tagout monitoring, please leave a comment, so we can get a discussion on this topic going.

OSHA Compliant Visual Lockout Procedures

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Twitt

There are many ways to ensure safety and compliance, regarding your written lockout procedures. You can maintain a filing in-house, and become an expert on OSHA standard 1910.147. You can hire a specialist onto your payroll, and pay them to maintain this for you. Or you can hire a company, such as ours, to run this for you. It is, ultimately, your decision, but you must do something.

What these written lockout procedures must cover, is “the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment in which the unexpected energization or start up of the machines or equipment, or release of stored energy, could harm employees.” (1917.147 (a)(1)(i)) So, this standard is serious in regards to employee safety. Unfortunately, the standard can be cumbersome, and it can be difficult to keep track of which machines require which written notices, which can often make it difficult to stay in compliance, and can open your facility up to potentially unsafe environments.

The key to creating a solid, compliant, and safe procedure is that it must: “clearly and specifically outline the scope, purpose, authorization, rules, and techniques to be utilized for the control of hazardous energy, and the means to enforce compliance.” (1917.147 (c)(4)(ii)) Further, it must specify steps for shutting down, isolating, blocking, and securing machines or equipment to control hazardous energy; specify steps for the placement, removal and transfer of lockout devices or tagout devices and the responsibility for them; and this must be tested at least annually.

This is but a brief overview of what is required, and how it should be maintained. We at PFSafety can walk you through the entire process, get you up to speed, and help you stay safe and cut costs with annual audits. Click here to learn more about the requirements and the process.