Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Recently, one of our subscribers asked the following question: I am looking for guidance on developing a lockout program where I can protect my employees from disassembled equipment while transferring the locks without having a physical hand off. Our second shift must leave equipment disassembled and locked out at midnight when they go home. We […]
At a storage system manufacturing facility in Georgia, two workers suffered finger amputations in two separate incidents within a 3-month period beginning in November 2014. Yesterday, we looked at the first incident; today, we’ll look at the second incident, in which a worker was standing up a fabricated metal rack. The 353-pound rack tipped over […]
At a storage system manufacturing facility in Georgia, two workers suffered finger amputations in two separate incidents within a three-month period. The first worker was using a power press to stamp small parts for metal racks in November 2014. The employer had not ensured that the press was guarded, and the worker’s hands entered the […]
In October 2014, a worker at Portland Specialty Bakery in Portland, Oregon, was trying to clear jammed dough from a bagel-making machine. The worker placed a piece of dough over the machine’s safety sensor, lifted the guard, and reached into the machine for the jammed dough. His hand was caught and crushed. The same bakery […]
Yesterday, we looked at OSHA’s answers to some employers’ questions about training certification and LOTO verification. Today, we’ll look at what OSHA has to say about workers performing maintenance on plug-and-cord-connected equipment covered under an exception in the LOTO rules. Employers often write to OSHA asking for clarifications of its requirements. Sometimes, OSHA writes back. […]
Here’s a question: Your employees carry identification badges that identify the individual employee when it is swiped on an electronic reader. The badges are used for workplace security, documenting time on the clock, and recording attendance in training classes. The badge-swiping system identifies individual employees, but is not equivalent to an “electronic signature.” Is it […]
OSHA has specific and strict rules about lockout/tagout. Today, we present some questions BLR has received about this issue and the answers BLR safety experts have given. Q. Can a duplicate key for the purpose of lock removal under LOTO be held in a secure area with a procedure in place for access to the […]
OSHA requires you to have an effective lockout/tagout program and train employees involved in or affected by LOTO. All employees who work with or around machinery and equipment should be trained to understand the importance of lockout/tagout and how it affects workplace safety. All employees who work with and around equipment that can be locked […]
According to OSHA, some 3 million workers face the risk of injury or death from hazardous energy–related accidents. Compliance with lockout/tagout rules keeps about 120 of them alive each year and prevents some 50,000 accidents. Three men were performing maintenance inside an asphalt mixer. One of them was still inside the mixer when the power […]
Yesterday we looked at the 10 steps OSHA requires authorized lockout/tagout (LOTO) employees to follow. Today we turn to the LOTO standard’s training requirements and look at a tool that takes the pain out of providing LOTO training. As we discussed yesterday, OSHA’s LOTO standard (29 CFR 1910.147) requires you to train three groups of […]