Weekly Safety Meeting – Lock It – Tag It – Try It

Lock It -­‐ Tag It -­‐ Try It

If you operate, clean, service, adjust, or repair machinery and equipment, be aware of the hazards to which you’re exposing yourself. Any powered equipment that could put you in danger is a hazard that can be prevented when lockout/tagout/tryout procedures are followed. Before working on or near energized equipment, visually inspect the work area to identify energy sources. Go through every step of the process to make sure accidental equipment activation won’t take you by surprise. If you identify an energy source, follow appropriate lockout/tagout/tryout procedures. Never touch or operate power-activated equipment unless you’ve been trained and are authorized to do so. Never touch anything that is locked or tagged unless you’re responsible for working on it and are sure the power is disconnected.

Be aware of the dangers and be on your guard around any machinery or moving equipment. Even if you don’t operate the machinery, you could get caught in it and injured if it’s not properly locked.

Failure to lock out or tag power sources on equipment can result in electrocutions, amputations, and other serious, sometimes fatal, accidents.

Most common causes of accidents:

• The machine or piece of equipment was not completely shut off before a maintenance or repair operation.

• The machine was turned on accidentally, either out of carelessness or because the person who turned it on didn’t realize that another worker was there and could get hurt.

• The machine wasn’t working correctly but wasn’t fixed, turned off, locked or tagged and someone who didn’t know about the problem used it.

• Moving equipment wasn’t blocked.

• Safety procedures were inadequate or hadn’t been properly explained.

Remember the dangers and be on your guard around any machinery and moving equipment. Even if you don’t operate the machinery, you could get caught in it and injured if it isn’t properly disconnected.

How to prevent accidental injury from moving machinery:

• Identify all jobs and equipment that require lockout of power sources.

• Post warning signs wherever possible to indicate that lockout is required.

• Develop written procedures explaining how lockout is to be done.

• Train all personnel in the lockout procedures for their particular job and offer periodic refresher training.

• Allow no deviation from the written policies and procedures.

• Use engineering and administrative controls as much as possible to eliminate the need for lockout.

• Test the energy after you believe it to be isolated.

  o This is one of the most over looked steps and probably the most important. Employees think they have isolated the energy at the source, but it isn’t for one reason or another.

• Perform regular maintenance to prevent malfunctioning equipment.

8 Steps of an Energy Control

1. Prepare for shutdown.

2. Shut down equipment.

3. Isolate all energy sources.

4. Apply locks and/or other applicable devices and tags.

5. Release stored energy.

6. Verify equipment isolation.

7. Perform the task.

8. Release from Lockout.

The key to lockout/tagout is to make sure that the equipment you are about to work on is completely shut down. Before you begin the shut-down, however, make sure you know what you’re dealing with. You must know the type and magnitude of the energy you’re working with as well as the potential hazards and the proper way to control that energy. Once you know that, you must inform all affected employees that you are going to shut down the machine.