Product, Facility, & Safety Identification Solutions

Proper Lockout-Tagout Procedures Result in Increased Safety, Improved Productivity, and Reduced Costs

We've all heard stories of catastrophic injuries on the job -- even fatalities. It's a tragedy for workers and their families, a disaster for friends and co-workers, and a nightmare for supervisors, managers, and business owners:

In June 2001, a worker in Marietta, Georgia was tamping down cardboard inside a compactor when his feet became caught in the cardboard. Pinned inside the machine, both of his legs were severed above the knee when the machine unexpectedly restarted.

This man's tragedy is one of many. It is estimated that 10 percent of industrial accidents are lockout/tagout related. Because of the frequency and seriousness of these accidents, OSHA seeks to improve worker safety with a special focus on lockout/tagout standards. LOTO procedures are the standard most often cited by OSHA for manufacturers, and lack of procedures or inadequately documented procedures are among the most commonly cited LOTO violations.

OSHA inspectors are specifically instructed to look for documented procedures during lockout/tagout inspections. According to STD 1-7.3 -29 CFR 1910.147, Inspection Procedures and Interpretive Guidance, OSHA inspectors are instructed to "ask the employer for documentation including procedures for the control of hazardous energy."

Why Effective LOTO Procedures Pay Off Effective lockout/tagout procedures save lives, time and money by reducing workplace accidents, limiting downtime, and increasing the efficiency of inspection and maintenance procedures.   Studies have shown that an effective lockout/tagout program can reduce accidents by 30-50%, and some insurance companies even offer lower premiums to companies with demonstrated, effective lockout programs.

Accidents take their toll on your company in many ways. In addition to the personal trauma to injured workers and the loss of employee morale, there are myriad hard costs, including machine repair and downtime, healthcare and litigation costs, and hefty fines levied by OSHA. In the case cited above, the company was fined $140,000, including $70,000 for failure to use documented lockout procedures to render the compactor inoperable while the employee was in the machine's chamber. Costs for one catastrophic accident can spiral into millions of dollars.

Effective LOTO procedures can also dramatically increase your company's productivity by making lockout activities more efficient. The procedure serves as a checklist that allows workers to quickly move through the steps without confusion or mistakes, reducing downtime.

To read the remainder of this article, please download the PDF file of the Lockout Tagout White Paper.