Page 37 - Occupational Health & Safety, December 2017

ance—and then go beyond. A well-written lockout program serves as a user-friendly guide to implementation. It is also a benchmark for checking how lockout is really being performed, as compared to how it was planned to be applied. It is helpful to consult with knowl- edgeable safety professionals who have experience in establishing effective lockout systems. This can help set reasonable and measur- able goals, such as timely and detailed training for personnel based on their level of participation in the lockout program.
Tiers of Authorized Training
■ Machine operators and set-up specialists should focus on the basic practices of the company LOTO program with emphasis giv- en to hands-on training with the limited number of machines they routinely work with.
■ Supervisors can benefit from a more in-depth knowledge of the management responsibilities of the company energy control program and how to coach successful behaviors. They need more general knowledge on how a wider range of machinery under their oversight needs to be properly isolated and secured.
■ Maintenance personnel often need much broader lockout training because they can be expected to deal with most, if not all, of the equipment under the company’s roof.
■ Electrically qualified personnel have special requirements for lockout identified in OSHA Subpart S.
Employers can receive assistance from organizations or in- dividuals with educational design experience to develop useful
and interesting training tailored to the needs of their personnel. Nothing seems as wasteful as meaningless, generic training that doesn’t provide workers the job-specific information they need to meet expectations and successfully apply that knowledge to protect themselves and others. The National Safety Council, State Safety Councils, local technical colleges, and dedicated indus- trial providers are excellent sources for both good content and in- structional design and train-the-trainer programs to tailor lockout education to reflect the workplace needs and expectations. The Master Lock Company has routinely found the best lockout train- ing programs are ones developed and presented internally by the employer. In fact, we have found the majority of demand for our Professional Lockout Services training is for our Lockout Tagout instructor courses and other training classes, such as Lockout/Ta- gout Alternative Procedure Writer Courses and Lockout Practitio- ner Certifications for management.
Does Lockout Impact Efficiency?
Three things are at the root cause of inefficiency when it comes to routinely and properly applying lockout/tagout. The first is absence of knowledge. If workers don’t understand what could hurt them and the circumstances that could lead to unexpected startup, they can’t appreciate the value of protecting themselves. They need good training and the guidance provided by accurate machine-specific lockout procedures to know how and why to protect themselves.
Second, if the culture of the workplace is to do whatever is nec-
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DECEMBER 2017 | Occupational Health & Safety 33
Circle 20 on card.