LOCK OUT AND TAG OUT PERMIT BASIC INFORMATION

Some work requires rigid lockout/tagout control of the type that should not be the responsibility of the employee alone. Lockout/tagouts of this nature should be secured by a formal permit.

This more formal approach is called a documented lockout/tagout. Typically, this type of lockout/tagout would be used on those types of jobs that are not simple and easily understood.

Electrical work performed on medium- and high-voltage circuits is a good example. It would also include work on equipment that requires a complex lockout/tagout due to multiple sources of electrical energy.

Also included would be jobs that require work inside of grinding mills, choppers, fan housings, ovens, storage tanks and silos, and similar situations in which personnel are in a position that unexpected equipment start-up would, without question, result in serious injury or death.

In general, the documented lockout/tagout shall be used except when the conditions given in 29 CFR 1910.147 for a nondocumented lockout/tagout allow an exception.

No specific permit system can be recommended as good practice in all circumstances. A workable permit system can be developed only on an individual basis at the plant level by personnel intimately familiar with plant operations. Certain requirements that represent good practice in one plant might be inadequate or unworkable in another plant with different problems and a different personnel structure.

One fundamental feature, however, should be incorporated into any permit system. It should be designed with checks and balances.

Specific responsibility for a particular operation should be assigned to an individual without relieving others of the obligation to double-check the status of the lockout/tagout before proceeding with their own assigned steps in the process. The permit system, then, should be developed to duplicate and reinforce, rather than dilute, responsibility.

Every step in processing a lockout/tagout permit, from the initial request to the official closing, should be confirmed in writing on an official form. The permit form should include spaces for every person involved to indicate the times and dates when the paperwork was received and when the action was taken.

Completion of each step should be acknowledged by the signature of the person responsible for taking the appropriate action. Every person involved in processing the permit should be held responsible for checking the paperwork referred to them to see that everything is in order before proceeding with their own step.