Page 52 - Occupational Health & Safety, March 2017

LOCKOUT/TAGOUT
Lockout/Tagout: Making Sure Your Organization is All In
When it comes to LOTO, a worker may not expend the effort to get critical information or supplies if he has to go more than 20 steps or wait more than 10 seconds. This is especially true when there is intrinsic motivation
to “help” the team.
BY ERIC GLASS
As technology evolves and the industrial landscape grows more complex, companies must remain focused on the basics. Three million American employees regularly service machinery and equipment, facing the risk of becoming victims of improperly controlled hazardous energy. When these workers are injured, their recov- ery takes an average of 24 days, according to OSHA.1 Even worse, failure to control hazardous energy is too often a deadly error.
To combat this, OSHA’s lockout/tagout (LOTO) standard regulates the necessary procedures for dis- abling equipment and machinery by holding employ- ers responsible for protecting employees from hazard- ous energy sources—electrical, hydraulic, mechanical, chemical, thermal, and pneumatic.
LOTO significantly improves the safety environ- ments of the craft workers, machine operators, and laborers who are most likely to be injured by hazard- ous energy. In fact, it prevents about 120 fatalities and about 50,000 injuries each year. To protect employees and remain compliant, companies need to ensure their employees have convenient, on-demand access to LOTO protocols.
The Problem
Imagine the following scenario.
“Bob, here’s the work order to bring the main hy-
draulic unit online down in the pit. Be sure to follow the valve sequence on the LOTO sheet in order to pre- vent it from damaging the newly installed seals,” said Gary, a floor manager at a chemical processing facility.
As Gary walked away, Bob threw the work packet in the tool box and thought to himself, “I have been working here 19 years and know how to bring the hy- draulic unit online.”
John, a new hire, overheard the conversation on his way to the hydraulic pit. Once there, he surveyed the series of valves and pipes and thought, “I’ve seen Bob just turn these four valve handles and it came right up.” John knew that the work packet had the se- quence, but he didn’t want to go get it. He did, how- ever, want to help get the hydraulic unit online as soon as possible, so he decided to bring the unit up on his
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own without checking the work packet.
Addressing LOTO Violations
How often has the above scenario happened in your organization? It’s probably happened more than once, if your company is like most. LOTO is consistently listed in OSHA’s Top 10 most commonly cited vio- lations. What if the newly installed seals mean Bob’s traditional approach no longer works? What if John misremembers the sequence and causes a seal failure, damage, or, worse, an injury?
When it comes to LOTO, a worker may not ex- pend the effort to get critical information or supplies if he has to go more than 20 steps or wait more than 10 seconds. This is especially true when there is intrinsic motivation to “help” the team. With this in mind, en- suring workers take the necessary actions may seem impossible. However, with the right strategy, you can greatly decrease employees’ likelihood of failure.
Proper LOTO enforcement begins with a solid foundation of training. The onboarding process for new employees should stress the importance of com- pliance with federal, state, and company policies. This should not be presented in a way that allows employ- ees to skim a couple of documents and then sign to acknowledge their agreement. Rather, present train- ing information in an interactive format, then quiz employees on what they’ve learned.
Training does not stop once a new hire has settled down at your company, though. All workers, includ- ing management, need regular refresher courses to stay as safe as possible on the job. Further, when new policies or practices are implemented, make every single employee aware of the changes. An active em- ployee education program could be the reason your company avoids fines and other regulatory action, prevents workplace injuries, and ensures no lives are lost due to improperly controlled energy from ma- chines and equipment.
Good training is crucial to ensuring proper proce-
UL EHS SUSTAINABILITY