Scope
Employers must establish an Energy Control Program (ECP) to ensure that before service and maintenance is performed, machines and equipment that could unexpectedly startup, become energized, or release stored energy, are isolated from their energy source(s) and rendered safe.
To do that, employers need to accomplish three critical activities to ensure employee safety when they are servicing or working near equipment that could expose them to hazardous energy:
- Energy control procedures: Employers must detail and document the specific information that an authorized employee must know to accomplish lockout/tagout, i.e., the scope, purpose, authorization rules and techniques to be utilized for the control of hazardous energy. See this sample.
- Periodic inspections: Inspections help employers ensure compliance with their energy control program and discover deficiencies. An inspection of each energy control procedure must be done at least annually by an authorized employee. Inspections of energy control procedures can be scheduled or random audits.
- Employee training: All employees must be trained to know basic hazardous-energy concepts and the purpose of the devices used to control it. They should also know what tasks might expose them to hazardous energy and how it can be controlled.
Teen Worker Killed Cleaning Energized Machine:
In July 2023, a 16-year-old worker was fatally injured while cleaning a still-energized machine during an overnight sanitation shift at a poultry processing plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He was working in the deboning area near a machine with rotating shafts and sprockets when he was pulled into the moving parts. Investigators later found that the equipment had not been properly shut down and locked out before cleaning began.
The incident was especially serious because the task was both hazardous and prohibited for a minor. Federal child labor laws prohibit workers under age 18 from operating or cleaning power-driven meat processing equipment because of the high risk of serious injury or death. Assigning a 16-year-old to perform this task exposed him to a danger he should not have faced.
OSHA investigated and determined that the death was preventable. The agency found that the company lacked proper lockout/tagout procedures to prevent machinery from unexpectedly starting during cleaning operations.
This was not the first fatal incident at the same facility. In 2021, another employee died after becoming caught in moving machinery under similar circumstances.
Together, these incidents show the importance of establishing clear energy control procedures, inspecting them regularly, training employees thoroughly, and making sure hazardous equipment is fully de-energized before cleaning or servicing begins.
1910.147(a)(1) Scope.
1910.147(a)(1)(i) This standard covers the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment in which the unexpected energization or start up of the machines or equipment, or release of stored energy could cause injury to employees. This standard establishes minimum performance requirements for the control of such hazardous energy.
1910.147(a)(1)(ii) This standard does not cover the following:
- 1910.147(a)(1)(ii)(A) Construction and agriculture employment;
- 1910.147(a)(1)(ii)(B) Employment covered by parts 1915, 1917, and 1918 of this title;
- 1910.147(a)(1)(ii)(C) Installations under the exclusive control of electric utilities for the purpose of power generation, transmission and distribution, including related equipment for communication or metering;
- 1910.147(a)(1)(ii)(D) Exposure to electrical hazards from work on, near, or with conductors or equipment in electric-utilization installations, which is covered by subpart S of this part; and
- 1910.147(a)(1)(ii)(E) Oil and gas well drilling and servicing.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
1-2. The purpose of lockout/tagout is to prevent injury due to the unexpected startup of machines and equipment, or _____.
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