Deep Insight of LOTO (Lockout&Tagout) Part 2

Locking out and tagout is a method of energy isolation. It is a control method used to prevent injuries caused by accidental device startup or energy release during maintenance, repair, adjustment, and cleaning of equipment. Now we are very used to saying lock or lock.

In fact, this piece of content should be called hazard energy isolation will be more comprehensive, the national standard is called dangerous energy control method, this statement is very reasonable (GB/T 33579). This part of the content is relatively difficult for new EHS personnel to master, because it is closely related to equipment and process, and many details may be difficult to understand without visual learning or on-site understanding.

First, how to understand the unexpected startup and energy release of equipment. The diagram below. If the fan in the workshop is broken, the fan is on the roof or other high position, maintenance personnel need to go up to repair it. A little safety consciousness of the people will go to the electric cabinet to drop the empty switch of the fan. 

If at the time of maintenance personnel maintenance, don't know someone already have other workshop personnel in the maintenance (maintenance personnel on the roof might not), some people see the fan is fixed, and stuffy and hot in the workshop, thought not open, may not even think about the electrical cabinet switch up, the maintenance personnel may hand or other parts of the body is near the blade, When the fan starts suddenly, the maintenance personnel can be injured or even killed. A significant proportion of serious workplace injuries are directly related to improper hazard energy isolation, which is why many companies use LOTO or hazard energy isolation as one of their survival principles.

The release of energy (or energy) and how to understand, such as hydraulic oil pipe, the normal work when there is pressure in the pipeline, from the perspective of energy can say there is potential energy, if you need to open it when maintenance hydraulic pipe for repair, if maintenance personnel did not correctly will the pressure inside the pipeline uninstalled, so when maintenance personnel to open pipe joints, pipe oil spurts out, It could hurt the maintenance staff. This is the release of potential energy from an energy perspective.

It is important to identify hazardous energy sources associated with the operation before implementing lockups. Sometimes it's not easy. Hazardous energy includes: electric energy, mechanical energy, thermal energy, potential energy, chemical energy, radiation energy and so on. The operator needs to know what hazardous energy is being exposed to the operation he is performing. For the production personnel, the implementation of cleaning operation will be easy to judge some, while for some maintenance personnel, the maintenance operation will be more complex. For example, if the discharge pump of the following chemical storage tank is to be replaced as a maintenance personnel, what harm energy do you think will be involved?

One is mechanical energy. If the pump is suddenly started when removing the pump, the maintenance personnel may be injured if they come into contact with the running belt or gear. The other is the chemicals in the pipeline, which may have pressure, which is potential energy; And if the chemical itself is hazardous, there may be chemical energy.

So when companies do LOTO for more complex equipment, they have energy isolation programs. Companies that do well create IP-energy isolation plans for all their equipment. Some companies call them LOTO procedure. It can be convenient for employees to identify hazardous energy sources, and at the same time facilitate employees to find the corresponding hazardous energy isolation point location. It takes a lot of time and energy to make this thing, and for the maintenance personnel, the EIP cannot be completely relied on. The maintenance personnel need to make a more specific judgment on the operation to be repaired.

To be continued with Deep Insight of LOTO (Lockout&Tagout) Part 3