Yesterday we looked at the safety measures outlined in 29 CFR 1910.147. Control of Hazardous Energy—better known as OSHA’s lockout/tagout standard). Today we’ll delve into the training requirements of that standard.
The importance of lockout/tagout (LOTO) training cannot be overemphasized. Consider:
- Compliance with the LOTO standard prevents an estimated 120 fatalities and 50,000 injuries each year.
- In 2007, LOTO was the third most commonly violated OSHA general industry standard, resulting in fines in excess of $7 million.
- Workers injured on the job from exposure to hazardous energy lose an average of 24 workdays for recuperation.
- In a study conducted by the United Auto Workers, 20 percent of fatalities (83 of 414) that occurred among their members between 1973 and 1995 were attributed to inadequate hazardous energy control measures, specifically, lockout/tagout procedures.
The standard requires employers to establish a comprehensive written procedure for the complete shutdown of any source of power that could otherwise reach a machine or other piece of equipment being worked on. The energy control program must include employee training procedures that take into account whether the employee is deemed “authorized,” “affected,” or “other.”
Need to do lockout/tagout training? Have little time to do it? Students train themselves with BLR’s Interactive CD: Lockout/Tagout computer-based program. Try it at no cost! Learn more.
An authorized employee is the person who locks out or tags out a machine or other piece of equipment in order to perform servicing or maintenance on it. Each authorized employee must be trained in the recognition of applicable hazardous energy sources, the type and magnitude of energy sources available in the workplace, and the methods and means necessary for energy isolation and control. Training for authorized employees must include:
- Recognition of hazardous energy
- Type and magnitude of energy found in the workplace
- The means and methods of isolating and/or controlling energy
- The means of verification of effective energy control, and the purpose of the procedures to be used
An affected employee is one whose job requires him or her to “operate or use a machine or equipment on which servicing or maintenance is being performed under lockout or tagout” or to “work in an area in which such servicing or maintenance is being performed.”
Affected employees must be instructed in the purpose and use of the energy control procedure. Employees who exclusively perform functions related to normal production operations and who perform servicing and/or maintenance under the protection of normal machine safeguarding need only be trained as affected employees even if tagout procedures are used.
All other employees must be trained not to start locked or tagged equipment, and not to remove or ignore lockout/tagout devices.
Retraining must be provided whenever there is a change in an employee’s job assignments, a change in machines, equipment, or processes that present a new hazard, a change in the energy control procedures, or whenever an employee demonstrates a lack of knowledge or skill in lockout/tagout procedures.
Employers must certify that lockout/tagout training has been accomplished and updated when such training has taken place. The certification must contain each employee’s name and dates of training.
Lock in your training
So how best to satisfy these extensive training requirements and protect your workforce? Our editors recommend the BLR program, Interactive CD Course: Lockout/Tagout.
This powerful, self-paced computer-based training (CBT) course uses emotional appeal, one of the most powerful educational motivators known, to drive the message home, which helps make it, in one reader’s words, “unforgettable.”
Try Interactive CD Course: Lockout/Tagout with your own employees at no cost or risk. Read more.
For example, at one point the course asks workers to consider how they would feel if they inadvertently reenergized equipment and caused the death of a co-worker. It notes such emotionally painful consequences as:
- Talking with the police
- Talking to co-workers just after the accident
- Telling your family members what happened
- Going to the victim’s memorial service and seeing the victim’s family members
- Going to therapy or counseling
Those are the kinds of resonating lessons that employees don’t soon forget. The program also presents these other advantages:
- Practical CD-ROM format. Employees train at their own pace, with no need for a fast Internet connection.
- Effective training on all OSHA-specified mandatory concepts. Proper entry permit procedures, rescue techniques, and required PPE, among others, are covered.
- Individual CBT training. No need to actively supervise the learning, freeing your time for other activities.
Because computer-based-training has to be experienced to be appreciated, we’ve arranged for you to try the program in your own workplace, with your own people, at no cost for up to 30 days before deciding whether to purchase. If it’s not for you, we’ll pay for its return.
Just click here, and we’ll be happy to set things up.