LOTO Roles, Training and Periodic Inspections

Lesson Overview: Roles, Training & Inspections

In this lesson you'll learn who does what in a lockout. You'll tell authorized, affected and other employees apart, and know what each must be taught, including the ban on restarting locked-out equipment, and when affected employees are notified. You'll recognize when retraining is required, and what the periodic inspection, done at least annually, includes.

Employee Classifications

Authorized employees are those trained to actually apply locks and perform the servicing. Affected employees operate or use the equipment being serviced, or work in the area where it is being serviced, and are instructed in the procedure's purpose and use. Finally, other employees, whose work is or may be in an area where lockout may be used, are instructed about the procedure and that they must never try to restart a locked-out machine.

Rules for Affected and Other Employees

Under OSHA's lockout standard, affected employees are instructed in the purpose and use of the energy control procedure, and everyone else working in the area is instructed about the procedure and the prohibition on restarting locked-out equipment. Never attempt to restart or reenergize a machine that is locked out. Only the authorized employees performing the servicing apply and remove the locks. Under paragraph (c)(9), affected employees are notified before the lockout devices are applied, and again after they are removed. Paragraph (e)(2) adds that this second notice comes before the machine is started.

Inspections and Retraining

Compliance is checked through periodic inspections, at least annually, by an authorized employee who is not using the procedure being inspected. Where lockout is used, the inspector reviews each authorized employee's responsibilities with them. Retraining is required when job assignments change, when machines, equipment or processes change in a way that presents a new hazard, or when the energy control procedures change. It is also required when an inspection reveals, or the employer has reason to believe, that there are deviations from or inadequacies in an employee's knowledge or use of the procedures.