Maintenance activities guarantee the availability, reliability and safety of production equipment. While performing their maintenance roles, technicians are exposed to hazardous energy sources or unexpected starting up of equipment. These conditions increase the risk of injury or death. To prevent such accidents, companies devise machine-specific lockout tagout (LOTO) procedures. They contain mandatory safety guidelines to be observed during maintenance. LOTO procedures are primarily limited to maintenance operations. However, they are crucial for selected production activities where safety devices or guards are missing or are bypassed.
Developing robust LOTO procedures demands adherence to OSHA guidelines. However, some organizations make the following common mistakes when creating and implementing these procedures.