Lock out Tag Out, (not really a PLC question)

I have read the information I am asking for somewhere else in this forum but I am having difficulty finding it..so i am asking where can I find anything in OSHA about maintenance troubleshooting and lock out tag out? There are some jobs that you cannot have all power off to accomplish.
Thanks in advance.

Try the OSHA website on lockout / tagout, it's free: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/controlhazardousenergy/

OSHA & the NEC make provisions for troubleshooting with the power on. Our plant LOTO just went through the Arc Flash & LOTT upgrades & it was covered in the material...

Thank you Ken,
I am still reading, and reading, and reading...you can tell its government.!

Another is http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/electrical/index.html

Stasis,
Have you read something that actually states in plain English that you don't HAVE to lock out if you are troubleshooting equipment? I went to the OSHA website and I could read from now till Christmas and maybe I would find what I am looking for. We have a gung ho safety director that is making maintenance troubleshooting and repair a nightmare. How do you teach an IA without the power on? And you have to be in the machine to see what you are doing. Or how do you line up fiber optics without power on? so it goes on and on...

Lockout is for servicing (replacing parts etc) or any time you have to enter a section of the machine with moving parts.

Troubleshooting may require activation of components so you do not have to lockout system...depending on situation you may lockout a "start" button or something that could cause an action.

In general thats why its a good idea for a company to have someone "professional" to come in and give LOTO training.

Another option is NFPA, they offer seminars, books etc on safework. They have a 4 day seminar that goes to most major cities.
http://www.nfpa.org/catalog/product.asp?category%5Fname=Safework&pid=NEC024A&target%5Fpid=NEC024A&src%5Fpid=&link%5Ftype=category&src=catalog

Hi,

I'am working for GE in belgium and we are familiar with these things ( and very hard safety director , can't translate gung ho :-(.. ). But for the problem that you describes underneed ( a exception to the rule ) we have to make a "risk analysis" for each case !.
For each type machine and each type of defect ( exapmle mech. problem, Hydr problem ... )

hopefully it's a start off



"And you have to be in the machine to see what you are doing. Or how do you line up fiber optics without power on? so it goes on and on..."

LStewart said:

Stasis,
Have you read something that actually states in plain English that you don't HAVE to lock out if you are troubleshooting equipment? I went to the OSHA website and I could read from now till Christmas and maybe I would find what I am looking for. We have a gung ho safety director that is making maintenance troubleshooting and repair a nightmare. How do you teach an IA without the power on? And you have to be in the machine to see what you are doing. Or how do you line up fiber optics without power on? so it goes on and on...

Click to expand...

not in front of me at the moment, but it's in the manuals we went through...I'll try to dig it up & give the Article #

**************************************************************
...depending on situation you may lockout a "start" button or something that could cause an action.
**************************************************************

I have never locked out a controls to protect my life (see 70E article 120 (6)). If something starting could hurt me or anyone else, then the machine should be locked out regardless of the need to troubleshoot or maintain. Relying on locking a start button to protect yourself is a practice that should not be relied upon.

I understand that Ron didn't mean this as a lockout. Yes I did read the part of his post that states:

****
Lockout is for servicing (replacing parts etc) or any time you have to enter a section of the machine with moving parts
****

but to someone inexperienced reading this, it might be taken that way. I would have probably worded it a little different and not used the words "lock out a start button".

I hope no one take offense to this (even though I'm sure some will initially), it was only meant as a clarification and as a way to err on the side of safety.

I found it!! Look in NFPA 70E (safety standards in the workplace) & check Article 130.1 FPN #2.Here is the link...

http://www.nfpa.org/codesonline/

When and why you lockout/tagout greatly depends of the machine and what your doing to it. Each facility needs to make a safety assesment and determine the circumstances when to lockout. However when it's determined that there needs to be a lockout/tagout, the procedure is almost always the same.

The project leader installs a lockout device on the disscnnect switch that accomidates a padlock for EACH worker. Each worker has his own unique padlock and key. If there's 5 workers working on the machine, then there's 5 different keyed padlocks hanging on the power supply. Each worker and every worker has to then remove his own padlock inorder for the machine to be powered up. So if you keep your key on your person you can feel fairly confident that you wont be turned to mush when you crawl between the dies of a large press.

It's actually more complicated that this post, but whatever docs you find and read, you should get this out of it..

Stasis,

You forgot to inlude you username & password with the link... He he..

sorry...you'll only be able to follow that link from the corporate home page.

here is the first section of Art130 cut & pasted from the NFPA site...


ARTICLE 130 Working On or Near Live Parts

130.1 Justification for Work.


Live parts to which an employee might be exposed shall be put into an electrically safe work condition before an employee works on or near them, unless the employer can demonstrate that deenergizing introduces additional or increased hazards or is infeasible due to equipment design or operational limitations. Energized parts that operate at less than 50 volts to ground shall not be not required to be deenergized if there will be no increased exposure to electrical burns or to explosion due to electric arcs.


FPN No. 1: Examples of increased or additional hazards include, but are not limited to, interruption of life support equipment, deactivation of emergency alarm systems, and shutdown of hazardous location ventilation equipment.


FPN No. 2: Examples of work that might be performed on or near exposed energized electrical conductors or circuit parts because of infeasibility due to equipment design or operational limitations include performing diagnostics and testing (e.g., start-up or troubleshooting) of electric circuits that can only be performed with the circuit energized and work on circuits that form an integral part of a continuous process that would otherwise need to be completely shut down in order to permit work on one circuit or piece of equipment.


FPN No. 3: For voltages of less than 50 volts, the decision to deenergize should include consideration of the capacity of the source and any overcurrent protection between the energy source and the worker.

I have never locked out a controls to protect my life (see 70E article 120 (6)).

Click to expand...

bruce I have 70E Standard for Electrical Safety Requirements of Employee Workplace 2000 Edition. It has no Articles or a 120(6)in it so not sure what yours says.

Using pushbutton lockouts is a common procedure when investigating a system for a problem and you do not want it too be started or any motion initiated. I am refering to using something like this that locks the STOP in place: