Tagging device vs lock on a bus switch ?

[Davebones]

We have numerous I-Line bus-ways thru out our facility . We have to use a hot stick to open and close the bus switches from the floor . When we work on a piece of equipment we hang a Salisbury 1166 TD " Tagging Device " with a red danger label on them after we open the disconnect for lock out . Now "safety" says we have to install a lock on the disconnect . Wondered how other facilities deal with bus switches for lock out tag out ?

 

[Smart $]

It is whatever your facility's [documented] safety program requires.

I formerly worked on nuclear power plant sites where during refueling outages there could be 1,000 or more contracting personnel on site on any given day. All the sites used was tags. No locks.

 

[iwire]

Go to tread easy on the tag out.

The rules for tagout are different between construction and general work places.

In one tagout is only allowed if there are no means to put lock out on.

 

[Davebones]

Have worked Nuclear and large industrial plants where everything was just tagged out . The main control room keep the the log book and was responsible for hanging and removing tags . We are a manufacturing plant . Bus switches can be locked but then it becomes a issue where you have to get a lift or a ladder to get up to the bus switch to lock it out . I understood that if tag out is wrote in a lock-out procedure this would be acceptable .

 

[wtucker]

Now "safety" says we have to install a lock on the disconnect .

You might suggest that "safety" read this section of the OSHA General Industry Lockout Standard: "1910.147(c)(2)(i) If an energy isolating device is not capable of being locked out, the employer's energy control program under paragraph (c)(1) of this section shall utilize a tagout system."

Or, "1910.147(a)(1)(i) This standard covers the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment in which the unexpected energization or start up of the machines or equipment, or release of stored energy, could harm employees." If the qualified persons who are actually doing the work are the only ones who might be harmed by the energization of the equipment, and they're the only ones who would know how to close the switch, how could the equipment be unexpectedly energized? Would anyone else in the plant grab a hot stick and energize tagged equipment while electricians are working on it?

 

[zbang]

When we work on a piece of equipment we hang a Salisbury 1166 TD " Tagging Device " with a red danger label on them after we open the disconnect for lock out. Now "safety" says we have to install a lock on the disconnect .

Ask for their safety analysis of how to get up to the switch to hang the lock.....

 

[tsloan]

You might suggest that "safety" read this section of the OSHA General Industry Lockout Standard: "1910.147(c)(2)(i) If an energy isolating device is not capable of being locked out, the employer's energy control program under paragraph (c)(1) of this section shall utilize a tagout system."

Or, "1910.147(a)(1)(i) This standard covers the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment in which the unexpected energization or start up of the machines or equipment, or release of stored energy, could harm employees." If the qualified persons who are actually doing the work are the only ones who might be harmed by the energization of the equipment, and they're the only ones who would know how to close the switch, how could the equipment be unexpectedly energized? Would anyone else in the plant grab a hot stick and energize tagged equipment while electricians are working on it?

would they? probably not. Is it possible for it to become energized? absolutely. I take the option of it possibly being energized by installing a lock. all of our maintenance personnel are trained in the use of aerial lifts, fall protection, etc. for just that reason.