Lockout Tagout of Main vs Intermediate Subpanel Electrical

[TGriffin]

Hi,

I am a Quality Manager and have limited exposure to Safety and LO/TO in my past experiences, where the organizations that I worked had a separate Safety and Training Manager that developed and maintained all SAFE requirements. Now in a smaller org as a Quality Manager, I cover the Quality Management System and any documentation related to Safety as well.

First, my attempts are to make the system easy to understand and one that I can easily and confidently explain. The plan is to label all Lockout points by equipment name with a serialized label and include how many energy exposure points for said equipment and which one this particular label covers (ie Laser Cutter, LOTO point 1 of 3 and a list of hazards present with checks besides all applicable). The intent is the Authorized will know just by LO/TO labeling what and how many hazards are present.

Second and the reason for this post. Some of our equipment have intermediate electrical panel lockouts and then the main breaker lockout. Does a lockout tagout program include the intermediate panels or just the overall breaker lockout? I am guessing the intermediate panels are there to lockout equipment in stages and may assist in trouble shooting etc. Are these intermediate panel lockouts considered in the Lockout Tagout program, if so how are they accounted for? There seems to be no direct information on this topic on the web.

Any input would be helpful, thanks in advance.

T

 

[petersonra]

If you lock out the main why would you need to lock out an intermediate? I'm not really sure what you are asking. The requirement is that you be able to lock out all sources of energy. It doesn't matter where they physically are so much as that you can get to all of them and they are all documented.

 

[GeorgeB]

The requirement is that you be able to lock out all sources of energy. It doesn't matter where they physically are so much as that you can get to all of them and they are all documented.

Fluid power guy here; I believe he needs to consider bleeding of stored energy; compressed air in lines, hydraulic accumulators, gravity (potential energy).

 

[TGriffin]

Petersonra, I may be over thinking it but with larger pieces of equipment there are multi intermediate panels... An example we have a laser cutter, its automated, so it has an vertical material storage system of beds for metal sheet goods (this component of the equipment has its own panel that could be locked out), then there is the laser head, it has its own intermediate panel. the material handling components has its own, the dust collector has another separate panel, etc... then there is the main breaker cut off that would completely shut all components of the laser cutter down. Does one try to do a step down LOTO on this type of equipment or just focus on overall depowering of the complete machine?

GeorgeB, Indeed all energy sources will be considered and conformed bleed or depleted.

 

[BillyMac59]

It appears you're trying to make this more complicated than it is. Your lockout points are usually as close to the load as possible. This is done for safety, yes, but also ease of shutting down and later restarting only the affected equipment. Put another way, shutting off the electrical power at its point of delivery from the utility would be an effective lock out point regardless of the equipment/machine. How practical is that? You're in an unenviable position my friend. You need to take a distinct but vague requirement of OSHA/OHSA, and make it explicitly clear in its specific application in your facility. You'll need input from production managers, maintenance managers and facility managers to determine to what extent they wish to go. As an example, I've seen cells that required LOTO to allow the completion of a 10 minute task. It took 20 minutes to put the cell into a zero-energy state and 30 minutes to bring it back to a "ready to run product" state.

 

[TGriffin]

ValeoBill, If I am understanding you correctly, it would be of an advantage to only LOTO the intermediate panels if this is all that's needed versus powering down the overall disconnect. I have reached out to the equipment Supplier to get their input and recommendations to see what this might yield. In previous experiences at larger orgs, like you mentioned we had layers of positions, experience and perspectives. I am now at a smaller shop and we wear many hats and rely on 3rd party for heavy lifting of equipment maintenance. Thanks for your insight!

 

[BillyMac59]

TGriffin, your first responsibility is for an effective lockout that protects the worker(s) and meets or exceeds legal and facility policy. Draw on experienced co-workers to develop a risk assessment for each task This will point you in the direction of what needs to be locked out. For example, individual lockable isolation switches at each motor may be the better option as opposed to locking down a large panel full of motor controllers. If you need some technical advise on lockout hardware/devices, reach out to a local electrical supplier. They can provide assistance through the engineerring branches of their product manufacturers. As a factory electrician, I've used this with ABB, Allen-Bradley, Siemens. This is usually a free service; especially if the smell a sale. Good luck to you.