Archive for May 24th, 2013

Using LOTO to Preserve Lives

The Lock Out Tag Out Procedure, often called LOTO or Lock and Tag, is a safety procedure used in industry and research settings to ensure dangerous machines are properly shut down and not started up again before the completion of maintenance or servicing work. Injuries that result from failure to control hazardous energy during maintenance activities can be serious or even fatal. Injuries that might be the result of failure to control hazardous energy might be electrocution, burns, cutting, laceration, crushing, fractures, and even amputation. Proper LOTO practices and procedures are designed to protect workers from unstable hazardous energy. Agencies that oversee workplace safety often require that persons qualified for confined space rescue operations complete confined space training for rescue and exercises annually, at the least, and often recommend more frequent confined space training.

When it comes to confined space training, the need is truly a necessity rather than a preference for the companies that oversee workplace safety. The risks that come with confined space rescue make OSHA lockout tagout procedures very important and necessary to ensure the safety of everyone involved. This is why the people dedicated to rescue in these situations must undergo vigorous amounts of confined space training in order to be prepared for the most hazardous circumstances. It is also important to test these individuals through simulated hazards in confined space training and that lock out tag out training is supplied to everyone involved. To learn more about confined space training and lock out tag out procedures, there are quite a few resources out there to learn from available at your fingertips. Find out more at this site.