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According to OSHA (The Occupational Health and Safety Administration) approximately 3 million workers in the US service equipment and face the greatest risk of injury if Lockout/Tagout is not properly implemented. Lockout/Tagout prevents an estimated 120 facilities and 60,000 injuries each year in US alone.

Many industrial accidents caused across the globe are due to the sudden start-up of machines, equipment or by the uncontrolled release of energy. Many of these accidents can be prevented by the use of proper Lockout/Tagout procedures.

Barcadi’s Bottling Corporation faces fines of more than $190,000 after an OSHA investigation into the death of a worker in its Jacksonville Florida facility.

The governing body OSHA (the Occupational Health and Safety Administration) are responsible for the enforcement of health and safety conditions across the entirely of the United States of America. The body has several standards for various types of working environment, but the one of the most important things that you should be concerned about is OSHA violations.

Another example of lockout/tagout not being correctly enforced after a worker died from injuries caused by a conveyor.

The main reason we perform lockout/tagout procedures is simple – we’re preventing potentially hazardous energy sources from injuring those working in an environment.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) has several additional requirements for the enforcement of lockout/tagout, which can be found inside section 1910.147 of the Federal Register (The Control of Hazardous Energy (lockout/tagout).

Once lockout/tagout procedures have been used and any maintenance has been completed, authorised employees can then go about the process of removing the lockout.

Why do we perform lockout? Well, quite simply, it is to maintain control of an energy source, and to stop machinery from being switched on while essential maintenance and service is being carried out on that particular piece of machinery.

Under the rules and regulations of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) it is the responsibility of an employer to provide relevant training in the application and enforcement of lockout/tagout procedures.