Page 21 - Occupational Health & Safety, July/August 2019

lockout training at both UC San Diego Health facilities with all in- formation tailored to the hospital environment. This instructor-led training covered Cal/OSHA’s lockout standard, best practices for controlling hazardous energy, common mistakes that lead to acci- dents, as well as the importance of personal responsibility to ensure the safety of the workers and their colleagues.
■ The safety process. A common, universal cause of lockout- related incidents occurs when workers skip safety steps with the thought that these procedures add complexity and extra time to their work. “Rapid Access to Lockout Equipment” practices, which are based on lean management principles, were applied to help UC San Diego Health improve worker access to lockout equipment.
One significant element of this was equipping authorized work- ers with customized lockout safety kits. Rather than having to leave a machine’s side and retrieve the necessary safety equipment from distant storage locations, workers have all of the necessary equip- ment on hand. This maximizes access to lockout equipment, which in turn minimizes wasted time.
After raising awareness of the importance of workplace safety, implementing best-practice-based recommendations and improv- ing access to lockout equipment, UC San Diego Health has taken measures to improve its safety culture while obtaining tangible results. Specific outcomes included increased efficiency, as UCSD Health workers now perform lockout 50 percent faster; a uniform and consistent methodology with newly implemented lockout
procedures; and increased participation in the Lockout Program among not only Authorized personnel, but all employees.
Four Lockout Components and Best Practices for Health Care Facilities
UC San Diego Health’s case study illustrates how one facility made the decision to improve an already effective safety program. Re- gardless of the stage of your LOTO program, there are four compo- nents, or best practices, you should consider:
1. Develop a Hazardous Energy Control Program. A baseline approach to safe lockout practice is the implementation of a Haz- ardous Energy Control Program specific to the operations of your health care facility. This program should be a user-friendly, site- specific document customized to your operation that outlines the roles and responsibilities of all employees within your Lockout Management System.
Your program should detail the following for all applicable employees:
■ The scope and application of your lockout policy
■ Responsibilities of all participating personnel, including administration, Authorized and Affected employees, and any other third-party employees involved in servicing or maintain- ing equipment
■ ■
Documented energy-control procedures
Method of accessing all necessary energy-control equip-
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