OSHA Standard Hazardous Energy Control: Lockout/Tagout (LOTO)

According to OSHA fact sheet, an estimation of 120 workplace fatalities and 50,000 injuries occur each year from uncontrolled hazardous energy. Employees servicing or maintaining machines or equipment may be exposed to serious physical harm or death if hazardous energy is not properly controlled. Craft workers, machine operators, and laborers are among the 3 million workers who service equipment and face the greatest risk. Compliance with the lockout/ tagout standard prevents these from happening. Workers injured on the job from exposure to hazardous energy lose an average of 24 workdays for recuperation.

The OSHA standard for The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout), Title 29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 1910.147, addresses the practices and procedures necessary to disable machinery or equipment, thereby preventing the release of hazardous energy while employees perform servicing and maintenance activities. The standard outlines measures for controlling hazardous energies—electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, chemical, thermal, and other energy sources.