In the United States, there are a significant amount of rules and regulations enforced by the Occupational Health and Safety Association (OSHA) which must be followed in order to avoid severe penalties, fees and possible criminal investigation.
The scope of OSHA’s extensive Health and Safety documentation extends to the procedure of lockout/tagout, and countless organisations have been slapped with huge fines because they failed to correctly enforce and utilise lockout/tagout that adhered to the regulations of OSHA.
The Regulation
The standard of OSHA are enforced in the Federal Register which was first published in 1989 and amended in 1990.
The process of lockout/tagout comes under section 1910.147 of the Federal Register. The section is fully described as:
OSHA Regulations (Standards – 29 CFR)
The control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout). – 1910.147
Standard Number: 1910.147
Standard Title: The control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout): J
SubPart Title: General Environmental Controls
Section A: Scope, Application and Purpose
Scope
The first section of OSHA’s regulations covers the scope of this particular standard, and reveals a useful description for what lockout/tagout is defined as. It says:
“This standard covers 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 cause injury to employees. This standard establishes minimum performance requirement for the control of such hazardous energy.”
Section (a)(1)(i)
In short, this means that anything that could potentially be energized and cause injury to employees is eligible for lockout/tagout, apart from a few exceptions which are defined in the next sections of ‘Scope’ in the Federal Register.
Under section A the guidance states:
“This standard does not cover the following:”
“Construction, agriculture and maritime employment;”
“Installations under the exclusive control of electrical utilities for the purpose of power generation, transmission and distribution, including related equipment or metering; and”
“Exposure to electrical hazards from work on, near, or with conductors or equipment in electric utilization installations, which is covered by Subpart S of this part; and”
“Oil and gas well drilling and servicing.”
(A)(1)(ii)(A-D)
As can be seen here, the regulations do not cover absolutely everything and there are many sections which do not come under the rules and regulations of lockout/tagout procedures.
There are, however, many which do, and the next section covers that.
Application
The application of lockout/tagout is covered in this section extensively and includes information about when it should be used and where it doesn’t apply.
(a)(2)(i)
This standard applies to the control of energy during servicing and/or maintenance of machines and equipment.
(a)(2)(ii)
Normal production operations are not covered by this standard (See Subpart O of this Part). Servicing and/or maintenance which takes place during normal production operations is covered by this standard only if:
(a)(2)(ii)(A)
An employee is required to remove or bypass a guard or other safety device; or
(a)(2)(ii)(B)
An employee is required to place any part of his or her body into an area on a machine or piece of equipment where work is actually performed upon the material being processed (point of operation) or where an associated danger zone exists during a machine operating cycle.
Note: Exception to paragraph (a)(2)(ii): Minor tool changes and adjustments, and other minor servicing activities, which take place during normal production operations, are not covered by this standard if they are routine, repetitive, and integral to the use of the equipment for production, provided that the work is performed using alternative measures which provide effective protection (See Subpart O of this Part).
(a)(2)(iii)
This standard does not apply to the following:
..1910.147(a)(2)(iii)(A)
(a)(2)(iii)(A)
Work on cord and plug connected electric equipment for which exposure to the hazards of unexpected energization or start-up of the equipment is controlled by the unplugging of the equipment from the energy source and by the plug being under the exclusive control of the employee performing the servicing or maintenance.
(a)(2)(iii)(B)
Hot tap operations involving transmission and distribution systems for substances such as gas, steam, water or petroleum products when they are performed on pressurized pipelines, provided that the employer demonstrates that-
(a)(2)(iii)(B)(1)
continuity of service is essential;
(a)(2)(iii)(B)(2)
shutdown of the system is impractical; and {3} documented procedures are followed, and special equipment is used which will provide proven effective protection for employees.
(a)(3)
Purpose
The purpose of lockout/tagout procedures is simple, and is defined by OSHA as being a requirement. It says:
(a)(3)(i)
“This section requires employers to establish a program and utilize procedures for affixing appropriate lockout devices or tagout devices to energy isolating devices, and to otherwise disable machines or equipment to prevent unexpected energization, start up or release of stored energy in order to prevent injury to employees.
(a)(3)(ii)
When other standards in this part require the use of lockout or tagout, they shall be used and supplemented by the procedural and training requirements of this section.
In short, this means that absolutely anything, except those outlined in the exceptions earlier, is eligible for lockout/tagout if it is a hazard due to energisation.
It also outlines that is legally required for the employer to establish a programme that uses lockout/tagout, and not following this guidance could result in dire consequences for the company and employees.
