Lockout Program
Welcome to Lockout Tagout Safety Ltd's Lockout Program page. Here, we're going to give you an overview on Lockout Tagout, why it is important and how you can implement your own Lockout Tagout System in your workplace.
Many machines and pieces of equipment in many industries have the potential to cause serious injury or death. If you are performing maintenance on a machine which hasn't been isolated and locked, then someone could potentially reactivate it with you still inside. This could be due to an operator returning from his break or dinner, or perhaps during a shift changeover, and seeing the machine has been turned off, turning it back on with questoning why it is offline in the first place.
For this reason, Lockout Tagout was introduced. This procedure means isolating a piece of equipment and then locking the isolation point with a padlock to which only the maintenance technician holds the key. This ensures that the machine cannot be reactivated while that person is inside the 'danger zone'. Any additional personnel who enter must also attach a padlock, to ensure that the maintenance technician doesn't do the same thing.
This video helps demonstrate the importance of this last point:
Steps for Lockout Tagout |
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1) Complete Paperwork Before you perform any maintenance, you will be required to complete your company's required paperwork, for example, work permits, risk assessments, etc. This is to ensure that you are aware of the risks related to the task, as well as making sure that nothing has changed since the last time maintenance was carried out and the equipment & PPE you'll need. |
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2) Isolate the equipment Once you have arrived at the maintenance area and informed the necessary personnel that yo are there to perform maintenance, they will help you switch of the necessary power supplies and isolate the equipment. |
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3) Lockout Using your personal Lockout padlock, to which only you should hold a key, lock the isolation point. This ensures that no one else can reactivate the equipment while you are in the danger area. |
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4) Tagout You must then tag the isolation point, to ensure that people are aware that maintenance is occurring in that area, the dangers of removing the padlock and that they require their own padlock to enter the area. Other information can also be included on these tags. |
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5) Complete Tasks Once you are confident that the lockout procedure has been completed then you can begin to perform your tasks, safe in the knowledge that no one can activate the machinery yo are working on. |
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6) Remove Lock & Tag Once you have finished your maintenance, you should perform a quick check to make sure no one else has come into the maintenance area you were working in. Outside contractors may be unaware of the procedure for Lockout Tagout. Ideally, your company should have informed them of the procedure when they arrived on site, but that doesn't mean someone might curt a corner somewhere and not attach a padlock. |
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7) Reactivate equipment Once satisfied that everything is clear and you have removed your padlock and tag from the isolation switch, return to the operator to reactivate the equipment and inform him of any changes or anomalies that may have occurred during maintenance. |
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8) Return padlock If you have your own lockout kit then you keep the padlock. If, however, you use a Lockout Station to store all the safety padlocks/equipment in a central area, then return the gear to that location. You can also now complete your paperwork and return it. |
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The process detailed above should give you a good idea of the principle of Lockout Tagout. Many companies now enforce an instant dismissal policy for anyone who operates without following Lockout Tagout procedures. We sell a wide variety of products that can supply a large or small business with Lockout Tagout equipment. An example of these products are shown below. Alternatively, you can view our full range at www.lockout-tagout.co.uk |
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Contains: |
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This is our most comprehensive kit. Everything you need is supplied, including a wide range of mechanical and electrical devices. Also included is useful training material, to help introduce new employees to Lockout Tagout and refresh the older employees' memories.
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Zenex Safety Padlocks
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Abloy Padlocks
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MasterLock Adjustable Cable Lock
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Brady Mini Cable Lockout
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You can view these products and many more on our website, www.lockout-tagout.co.uk |
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