Six Steps to Lockout/Tagout

Engage and educate employees with our 5-minute Safety Shortcut program on The 6 Steps to Lockout/Tagout. Use this training for your next tailgate talk or weekly safety meeting.

A lockout/tagout procedure should include the following six steps:

1. Preparation
2. Shutdown
3. Isolation
4. Lockout/Tagout
5. Stored Energy Check
6. Isolation Verification

Let's take a closer look at the steps for lockout/tagout safety.

Step 1: Preparation

The first step of locking and tagging out equipment for service and maintenance is to prepare. During the preparation phase, the authorized employee must investigate and gain a complete understanding of all types of hazardous energy that might be controlled. In addition, it's important to identify the specific hazards and of course means for controlling that energy.

Step 2: Shut Down

With planning complete, the actual process of powering down and locking out machines begins.

At this point, it's time to shut down the machine or equipment that will be serviced or maintained. Another important part of this step is to inform any employee affected by the shutdown, even if they won't play a role in the service or maintenance. 

Step 3: Isolation

The next step of the lockout/tagout procedure is to isolate the machine or equipment from any source of energy. This may mean any number of things, such as turning off the power at a breaker or shutting a valve.

Step 4: Lockout/Tagout

With the machine or equipment isolated from its energy source the next step of lockout/tagout is to actually lock and tag out the machine.

During this step, the authorized employee will attach lockout and/or tagout devices to each energy-isolating device. The point is to apply the lockout mechanism on the energy-isolating device in a way so it stays in the "safe" position and cannot be moved to the unsafe position except by the person performing the lockout.

Tagout refers to applying a tag on the device as well. This tag includes the name of the person who performed the lockout and additional information. 

Step 5: Stored Energy Check

Even after the energy source has been disconnected and the machine has been locked out, that doesn't entirely guarantee that there's no hazardous energy still stored within the machine or that it's even safe to perform the maintenance.

At this time, it's important to look for any hazardous energy thats been "stored" within the machine, or any "residual" energy. During this phase, any potentially hazardous stored or residual energy must be relieved, disconnected, restrained, or made non-hazardous in some other way. 

Step 6: Isolation Verification

This last step is all about making sure. Yes, you've shutdown the machines, isolated them from their source of power, locked them out, and checked for hazardous stored energy. But now's the time to double-check that you did it right and it's now safe to work on the machine or equipment.

At this point, an authorized employee verifies the machine has been properly isolated and de-energized. 

Optional Network license also available. These annual licenses allow you to digitize the DVD program/written materials and place them onto your local network so that they can be viewed by various departments without having to pass around a DVD. Pricing is based upon the title(s) chosen and the estimated employees trained per year. For more information please contact us at 1-800-975-7640

Have your own LMS? We offer this course in SCORM compatible format so that you can plug the title into your own LMS. 

USB and DVD are both copyrighted products and shall not be removed from their devices. Due to our USB copyright protection unexpected playback issues may occur on government or other highly protected devices. The USB devices we sell will be permanently damaged if the files are attempted to be taken off of the device. Replacement will be at the customer's expense for both product and shipping. Should you wish to put something directly on your network or device, please call 800-975-7640 to speak about the options we offer.