OSHA requires you to train employees to prevent lockout/tagout (LO/TO) accidents in the workplace. Have you explained how to avoid the "Fatal 5" to your employees?
1 . Failure To Stop Equipment. Sure, this sounds like common sense, but there's much more involved. Some workers value productivity above safety and others feel that their age or experience with equipment make them immune from risk. "Taking the trouble" to properly safeguard energized equipment is essential in all cases.
2. Failure To Disconnect From the Power Source. When working with and around electric equipment, some workers believe that simply operating the on/off switch will ensure their safety. They ignore the fact that the switch may be defective or that power may find its way through a short circuit or other source.
3 Failure To Drain Residual Energy. There's a reason that televisions carry warnings about trying to open the case even if the set is disconnected. That's because many electrical devices store power in a capacitor or battery. Even unplugged, the risk remains. A compressed spring, hot pipe, pressurized tank, or heavy object hanging overhead can store energy even when the initial source of power is disconnected.
4. Accidental Restart Of Machinery. Even if an employee knows how to shut down equipment before working on it, his or her co-workers may not. In too many instances, unknowing employees cause injury to their co-workers.
5. Failure To Clear Work Areas Before Restarting. Restarting machinery must be performed as carefully as shutting it down and locking it out. A repair tool left in the works can fly out, or a restart while a co-worker remains in the path of danger represents as great a hazard as not locking out the machine at all.
Thanks to BLR Safety Daily Advisor
