Lockout/tagout protects people who service or maintain machines from unexpected start-up and from stored energy. The rules are precise, and so are the mistakes: a tag treated like a lock, a missed verification, a lock removed by someone else. This quiz reviews them one by one.
Who must be trained
The standard (29 CFR 1910.147(c)(7)) trains three groups differently:
- Authorized employees, who lock or tag out machines to service them: recognition of hazardous energy sources, the type and magnitude of energy in the workplace, and the methods to isolate and control it.
- Affected employees, who operate the machine or work in the area: the purpose and use of the energy control procedure.
- All other employees who work, or may work, where the procedures are used: what the procedure is, and that they must never try to restart or re-energize locked or tagged out equipment.
Where tagout is used, everyone must also learn its limits: a tag is a warning device and does not physically restrain the energy isolating device the way a lock does. The employer certifies the training with each employee's name and training dates.
Retraining and the annual inspection
LOTO has no fixed refresher interval for training, but two duties keep it current. Retraining is required when job assignments change, when machines, equipment or processes change in a way that brings a new hazard, when the procedures change, and when a periodic inspection or other evidence shows gaps in knowledge or use (1910.147(c)(7)(iii)). And each energy control procedure must be inspected at least annually by an authorized employee other than the ones using it (1910.147(c)(6)).
The sequence a quiz should check
- Prepare: know the type and magnitude of the energy, its hazards and how to control it.
- Shut down the machine in an orderly way.
- Isolate it from every energy source.
- Apply the lockout or tagout devices.
- Relieve, disconnect or restrain stored and residual energy.
- Verify isolation before starting work.
These are paragraphs (d)(1) to (d)(6). On release, the work area is checked, employees are safely positioned or removed, affected employees are notified, and each device is removed by the employee who applied it, except under the specific procedure the standard allows when that person is not available (1910.147(e)).
Using the quiz
Play the quiz after walking through a real procedure from your plant. The ordering question on the six steps works well as a team round. Quizhat is an independent tool, not affiliated with or endorsed by OSHA.