EHSDA Shorts: How Can Energy Be Isolated During a LOTO?

In this installment of EHSDA Shorts, James Junkin, MS, CSP, MSP, SMS, ASP, CSHO, CEO of Mariner-Gulf Consulting & Services, LLC, explains what lockout/tagout (LOTO) is and how energy can be isolated during a LOTO.

This clip was taken from a webinar titled “Periodic Inspections in Lockout/Tagout.” The full session is available for FREE on-demand here.

This webinar was sponsored by Veriforce.

Transcript (edited for clarity):

Question: How Can Energy Be Isolated During a LOTO?

Junkin: Lockout/tagout is one of the standards that [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration] routinely cites against and is probably one of the standards that protects our employees the most when doing servicing and maintenance of equipment.

So when is lockout/tagout required? Anytime we’re doing servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment and which the unexpected energization or startup of the machines or equipment or the release of stored energy could cause injury to employees. If you’re doing servicing, you’re doing maintenance work under the lockout/tagout standard here, [so] that energy must be isolated.