The January 2010 issue of EHS Today, a magazine for Environment, Health, and Safety Leaders, featured a three part series focusing on the importance of a lockout/tagout (LOTO) program. As mentioned in “The Basics of Lockout/Tagout Compliance: Creating an Effective Program”, the following five topics should be looked at to know that your company is doing all that it needs to, to keep your employees safe.
Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) Programs should include:
1) A corporate policy – your policy should be written in a way that it is clear and easy for your authorized employees to understand. Not legal jargon, but rather useful, descriptive words that will explain what they actually need to do to comply with the policy.
2) Machine specific procedures – are required for each machine and need to be available for authorized employees. It is only when a machine meets eight criteria set by OSHA that it can be exempt from having a pre-written, machine-specific procedure.
3) Training – required for all authorized and affected employees and it’s expected that this training is kept up to date when changes do occur.
4) Annual auditing – authorized employees and each LOTO procedure must be audited every year to ensure the equipment hasn’t changed and ensure the procedure still is readily available and accurate.
5) LOTO equipment/devices – to ensure that all the needed tools are there to properly lock out your equipment when needed; it will most likely take more than just locks.
Nelson-Jameson is able to help you stock the LOTO supplies that are needed to comply with OSHA Lockout/Tagout policies. Give us a call for all of your locks, stations, tags and other safety needs.
For more information, contact:
Carol Blakey- Safety & Personnel Product Manager
c.blakey@nelsonjameson.com
1-800-826-8302 ext: 1045
Every month, health and safety media publish stories of accidents and subsequent prosecutions where individuals have been hurt or killed as a result of failings in the work procedures and safe isolation practices.
Each one frustrates me even further that such distress and grief has been inflicted upon those affected, all of which is totally avoidable.
In all walks of life we are required to demonstrate our competence before we are allowed to embark on an activity, for example the driving test. Only when we have passed our test, can we take to the road.
The same should be the case when starting in business. Where the welfare of workers is at stake, business proprietors should have to pass an awareness and competence test, albeit in summary. Even the briefest explanation of lockout tagout with an element of shock tactics will make business owners aware of their legal obligations and potential consequences in the event that workers are harmed.