VALCO Engineering Safety Talk

Monday, Jan. 8, 2018 - Lockout

Lockout/Tagout is more than just putting a yellow lock on the main electrical disconnect to a machine
or part of a machine but it means controlling and preventing unexpected energization, start-up or
release of stored energy during servicing and/or maintenance of equipment and machinery.

Knowing what and where to lockout something is critical. Prior to servicing that requires
Lockout/Tagout you must evaluate the potential energy that could be released while working in that
area or on a specific device. There are several types of energy:

1. Electrical energy to operate the device

2. Pneumatic energy or commonly known as air that controls various devices
3. Steam that heats various devices
4. Natural Gas that is used in combustion devices
5. Water that may be used to cool devices
6. Hydraulics that may be used to control devices
7. Gravity that may play a part in something lifted off the ground (springs)
8. Thermal energy that may cause things to remain hot after the source has been turned off.

Depending on the task you are performing you need to evaluate and isolate the systems and sources
of energy that could cause injury

I will like to reiterate that OSHA, from which most industries reference their individual standards,
defines the purpose of LOTO is to prevent the “unexpected" energization or startup of the machines or
equipment, or release of stored energy could cause injury to employees.

In VALCO, we are embark on LOTO with the Guide sheet to instruct us on what and how to do it safely.
For instance, if an employee is instructed to shutdown boiler # 2, he is required according to guide
sheet # 43002-1a to the do the ff. (Use information on the guide sheet for case study) However,
should the employee fail to LOTO according to the guide sheet instructions he has violated the Policy,
qualifying him/her for the repercussions thereof.

Further to, we can go the extra mile of determining additional sources of energy that need to be locked
out. This might have been caused by undocumented changes on the field, thereby we will go a long
way to improve the overall LOTO procedure.

Hence, we must always adhere to the standard lockout practices and make sure others are doing
likewise to save a life.

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