Tag Archives: lockout/tagout

Eye Protection, General Safety Issues, Hand Protection, Head Protection, Protective Clothing

MAY IS NATIONAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY MONTH

Every year in the United States, workplace electrical incidents result in more than 300 deaths and 3,500 injuries.  While electrical hazards are not the leading cause of on-the-job injuries and fatalities, they are disproportionately fatal and costly.  For every 13 electrical injuries, a worker dies.   Knowing best practices of electrical safety are critical to reducing these staggering statistics because most of these injuries could be prevented. 

Electricity and electrical products play a fundamental role in how we conduct business every day. However, if not used or maintained appropriately, they can pose serious risks. Over the last ten years, more than 30,000 workers have been injured in workplace electrical accidents. These injuries not only disrupt the lives of the workers and their families, but also impact the productivity of employers. 

An arc flash is a sudden release of electrical energy through the air when a high-voltage gap exists and there is a breakdown between conductors. An arc flash gives off thermal radiation (heat) and bright, intense light that can cause burns and other injuries. Exposure to extreme temperatures burns the skin directly and ignites the clothing that the worker is wearing. 

An arc flash can be spontaneous, or can result from inadvertently bridging electrical contacts with a conducting object. Other causes may include dropped tools, the buildup of conductive dust, or corrosion. While great advances are being made to improve equipment design and thereby reduce the number of arc flash incidences, there is still much to be done. Each year, 2,000 workers are admitted to burn centers for treatment of severe arc flash burns. 

High-voltage arcs can also produce considerable pressure waves by rapidly heating the air and creating a blast. This pressure burst, or arc blast, can hit a worker with grenade-like force and send metal droplets from melted copper and aluminum electrical components shooting out at speeds up to 700 miles per hour – fast enough for the tiny shrapnel to penetrate ones body.  

Here are some important ways to prevent injuries and fatalities when working with electricity:

Every year, workers are injured or killed by circuits they thought were safely turned off. Simply shutting off the power is not enough. Hazardous conditions can still exist. You may not get a second chance to learn this important lesson, so always test before you touch! 

Most electrically-related fatalities and injuries could easily be avoided. Responsibility for your safety begins with you. Take steps to protect yourself everyday and make safety an integral part of how you do business. 

The number one way to prevent electrical injuries and fatalities is to turn off the equipment being worked on. It may take a little more time and planning, but your life and your health are worth it. Be proactive about de-energizing equipment and taking steps to ensure that your work environment remains safe. Working on energized equipment increases your risk of injury or death.

 

 Each day, nearly 3 million professionals participate in work activities where lockout/tagout procedures should be used. Unfortunately, too many workers still put themselves at risk by working energized or neglecting to follow their company’s lockout/tagout procedures. Year after year, failure to comply with the lockout/tagout standard is listed as one of the top OSHA violations. If the standards are followed, an estimated 120 fatalities and 50,000 injuries could be prevented annually. Get in the habit of doing this important step every time! 
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) will be the major factor in differentiating between an electrical event you walk away from and one that requires months of painful healing. PPE comes in many different forms, including: hard hats, gloves, goggles, safety shoes, flame-resistant clothing, dielectric safety glasses, face shields, fall protection equipment, etc.Be sure to choose the PPE that is right for you and your circumstances. PPE should be:

  • Worn CORRECTLY; zipped, buttoned, etc
  • Appropriate for the hazard
  • Worn as the outermost layer
  • Maintained properly and removed from service when needed

This month serves as a reminder that we must always be extremely careful when working around electricity. 
  Source: ESFi (Electrical Safety Foundation international)
General Safety Issues

INFORMATION ON NEW LOCKOUT/TAGOUT GUIDE (GUEST POST)

Graphic Products, Inc. Issues Lockout/Tagout Guide by Jack Rubinger. 

Portland, OR – An estimated 120 lives are saved and 50,000 injuries prevented each year by complying with OSHA lockout/tagout standards. Lockout/tagout, or LO/TO, is a procedure in which repairs are not made to machines until power sources are removed, locked out, tagged out and isolated. In response to this course of action, Graphic Products, Inc., has released the Safety Lockout/Tagout Best Practices Guide. 

“A large percentage of workplace accidents, as well as OSHA citations, are related to not using LO/TO or not following LO/TO procedures. The Best Practices Guide was developed to help reduce accidents by providing foundational information about LO/TO. We’ve produced this free best practices guide for our customers and are happy to make copies available to anyone who needs to learn the basics of LO/TO,” said Steve Stephenson, Chief Marketing Officer, Graphic Products.

 Included in this colorful guide are chapters about how accidental start-ups occur, a definition of stored energy, steps to install and remove lockout gear, a case study from an environmental health and safety professional plus an overview of commonly used LO/TO products and services. There’s also a section about reducing the number of potential injuries and fatalities possible from entrapment in confined spaces such as tanks and tunnels. LO/TO supplies include DuraLabel tag stock which includes holes to hang tags on piping systems and switches resists. Tag stock also resists moisture, UV rays and exposure to washdown chemicals. Finally, lockout padlocks, hasps and kits are included in the Graphic Products Facility & Safety Equipment catalog. 

OSHA’s 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, 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. 

“LO/TO devices help reduce injury tremendously. Types of equipment impacted by LO/TO are light ballasts, switches, motors and pumps — any equipment/circuit >50 volts to ground. Affected people are faculty, staff, and researchers,” said Jim Biddle, Manager, Industrial Hygiene & Environmental Programs, Northern Arizona State University. 

OSHA suggests the following steps for workplace safety: 

  • Develop, implement and enforce an energy control program
  • Ensure that lockout/tagout devices identify the individual users
  • Provide effective training 

About Graphic Products

Graphic Products, Inc. manufactures DuraLabel mobile and wide-format labeling systems used by manufacturers, international shipping lines, distribution centers, mining operations and oil refineries worldwide. The company offers more than 50 specialty labeling supplies for virtually any industrial demand. Customers include Amazon.com, Boeing, Intel and Toyota. Every DuraLabel printer purchase includes a three-year warranty, DuraSuite label creation software and free technical support for life. 

To underscore its commitment to visual communications, Graphic Products provides a growing selection of free published articles, handbooks, webinars, blogs, and informational videos.

To receive the free LO/TO guide, go to http://www.graphicproducts.com/free-gifts/free-safety-loto-bpg.php.

 

More information can be found by visiting www.duralabel.com, calling 1-888-326-9244 or emailing jarubinger@graphicproducts.com.

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General Safety Issues

WE’RE STILL COUNTING DOWN OSHA’S TOP TEN VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES LIST!

Continuing with OSHA’s Top Ten Violations List, (fiscal year 2010),  coming in at #6 is Control of Hazardous Energy (lockout/tagout), general industry, (29 CFR 1910.147).  The same standard was #4 in highest penalties assessed by OSHA in fiscal year 2010.  OSHA feels that compliance with this standard  prevents an estimated 120 fatalities and 50,000 injuries annually, as there are about three million workers in the United States that have jobs to repair or service equipment or machinery, which must be isolated from energy sources before they can begin their work.  Almost 95 per cent of all lockout/tagout citations involved are from not having a formal Energy Control Program in place.  There are three core components to an energy control program:

  1. Energy Control Procedures. These procedures must detail and document the specific information that an authorized employee must know to accomplish lockout/tagout, namely, the scope, purpose, authorization rules and techniques to be utilized for the control of hazardous energy.
  2. Periodic inspections of the energy control procedures to ensure that the procedures and requirements of the standard are being followed.
  3. Employee training and retraining, along with additional training under a tagout system, to assure that the purpose and function of the energy control programs are understood by the employer. 

Employers are expected to develop programs and procedures, training and inspections, that meet the needs of their particular workplace and the particular types of machines and equipment they use and service, as long as they meet the requirements of the standard.  They must ensure that prior to an employee servicing the equipment where the potential exists for unexpected energization or start-up of equipment or the release of stored energy, the machine or equipment is isolated from the energy source and rendered inoperative.  Sources of stored energy include electricity, mechanical motion, motion due to gravity, pressure, springs under tension or compression, and/or thermal (high or low temperatures.) 

Here are other significant requirements of a Lockout/Tagout procedure required under this type of program:

  • Only authorized employees may lockout or tagout machines or equipment in order to perform service or maintenance.
  • Lockout and tagout devices shall not be used for any other purposes and must be used only for controlling energy.
  • The devices (locks and tags) must identify the name of the worker applying the device.
  • All energy sources to equipment must be identified and isolated.
  • After the energy is isolated from the machine or equipment, the isolating device must be locked out or tagged out in safe or off position only by authorized employees.
  • Following the application of these devices to the energy isolating devices, the stored or residual energy must be safely discharged or relieved.
  • Prior to starting work on the equipment, the authorized employee shall verify that the equipment is isolated from the energy source, for example, by operating the on/off switch on the machine or equipment.
  • The lock and tag must remain on the machine until work is completed.
  • Only the authorized employee who placed the lock and tag must remove his/her lock or tag,  unless the employer has a specific procedure as outlined in OSHA’s Lockout/Tagout standard.

An accident can best be avoided by preventing an unexpected startup of equipment or machinery while it is being serviced or repaired.  One can never be too careful!

Source: OSHA