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.
Periodic LOTO inspection of equipment and machinery.
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.
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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