George C. Walton, CHMM, has more than 26 years of experience in reactive and explosive materials. In 1986, George founded Reactives Management Corp. (RMC) to provide environmental compliance, chemical safety, explosive ordinance disposal, training and technical services. He advises Coastal Training Technologies on chemical and hazardous material issues. Coastal offers a wide range of respiratory protection training programs (www.coastalsafetytraining.com/respiratory.html).
Follow proper procedures to control hazardous energy
OSHA’s lockout/tagout regulation, found at 29 CFR 1910.147, is a standard we all can live with. The regulation covers the servicing or maintenance of machines or equipment in which the unexpected release of stored energy or equipment start-up could injure workers. The name of the standard — Control of Hazardous Energy (lockout/tagout) — describes what the regulation actually requires.