OSHA seeks information, hopes to update lockout/tagout rule

September 1st, 2017 by Dakota Software Staff

According to Business Insurance, OSHA announced they intend to request information in April 2018 that could potentially lead to an update of the lockout/tagout rule.

The Control of Hazardous Energy standard, otherwise known lockout/tagout rule, is a regulation designed to prevent applicable machinery and equipment from operating and releasing hazardous energy while staff members perform maintenance work in a dangerous zone. Some applicable energy sources are pneumatic, chemical, electrical, thermal, hydraulic and mechanical, among others, as detailed by OSHA.

Three million workers ranging from electricians and craftsmen to machine operators face the greatest risks to their health and safety from lockout/tagout risks. Amputation, burns, broken bones, electrocution and death are all possible while they use, service and install machines with hazardous energy output. It takes an average of 24 days for these workers to recuperate after an injury from exposure to dangerous energy and OSHA issued 3,406 lockout/tagout citations last year alone.

Employers are responsible for determining a system of best practices for disabling electrical machinery based on their particular worksites and the jobs performed there.

Lockout and tagout devices needed to be physically applied to a machine by a trained staff member, and the devices themselves were usually specific to one machine.

Old standard needs new fix

As machinery continued to advance, machines became increasingly reliant on computer technology to prevent their operation and emission of energy. The more modern systems existed in regulatory grey areas and created problems because they conflicted with OSHA lockout/tagout standards already in place.

"The agency has recently seen an increase in requests for variances for these devices," said an OSHA spokeswoman in an email to Business Insurance. "Additionally, there are international standards harmonization concerns since this method of lockout/tagout is more accepted in other nations. In light of these developments, the agency plans to issue a Request for Information to learn more about the strengths and limitations of this new technology, as well as its potential hazards to workers."

In 2016, the American National Standards Institute updated their lockout/tagout standards to be more cognizant of technological advancements, but as detailed by the spokeswoman in her email, OSHA does not take steps to amend rules every time an agreement on them is reached. The rules are instead revised when it is found that significant improvements in ensuring worker safety could be reached.

OSHA's request for information means they hope to see the same increases in employee safety that ANSI saw.