For maintenance managers, safety coordinators and plant supervisors
Write a lockout procedure for each machine. Print a placard to post on it.
List the equipment and its energy sources, add photos of the isolation points, and get a written energy control procedure plus a one-page placard. The steps come out in the standard order, ready for review and sign-off.
- ✓ No sign-up
- ✓ Works on your phone, camera included
- ✓ Your procedures and photos stay on your device
How it works
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Step 1
List the equipment and its energy sources
Name the machine, then add each energy source: electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, gravity, thermal, stored energy and more. For each one, enter the isolation device, where it is, how to lock it and how to verify that it is isolated.
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Step 2
Add photos
Walk the machine with your phone and photograph it and each isolation point. Photos are resized and kept in your browser. They print on the placard and in the procedure.
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Step 3
Print the procedure and the placard
The written procedure covers shutdown, isolation, locks and tags, stored energy, verification and restart, with review and approval lines. The placard fits on one page to post at the machine.
What a machine-specific lockout procedure needs to include
OSHA's lockout/tagout standard, 29 CFR 1910.147(c)(4)(ii), says a written energy control procedure must clearly and specifically outline the scope, purpose, authorization, rules and techniques for controlling hazardous energy, and the means to enforce compliance. It names four elements the procedure must include, at a minimum. The builder has a section for each, and the procedure ends with a table that shows where each one is.
In Canada, provincial and federal workplace safety regulations set the lockout rules, and CSA Z460 is the national standard on controlling hazardous energy. Check what your jurisdiction requires. Every field and step in the builder can be edited to match.
- A specific statement of intended use
- Which machine the procedure is for, where it is, and the servicing and maintenance it covers.
- Steps to shut down, isolate, block and secure the machine
- The normal stop, then one isolation step for each energy source, naming the device and where it is, and how stored energy is released or blocked.
- Steps to place, remove and transfer locks and tags, and who is responsible
- Who the authorized employees are, how each applies a personal lock and tag, who removes them, and what happens at a shift change or during group lockout.
- Requirements for testing that the lockout works
- How to verify isolation before work starts, for example a try-start at the controls, a gauge reading zero, or a meter test for voltage.
Pricing
Free to build and preview. $49 once for clean PDFs.
One price for every machine in your plant. No subscription.
Free
$0
- ✓ Unlimited machines and procedures
- ✓ Energy source table, generated steps and photos
- ✓ A next review date for each procedure, with overdue ones flagged
- ✓ Watermarked preview of the procedure and the placard
Pro
One-time payment$49 once, no subscription
- ✓ Everything in Free
- ✓ Clean energy control procedure PDFs with your logo, no watermark
- ✓ One-page equipment placards with photos and a color-coded energy source table
- ✓ Unlock your phone and office computer with one license key
- ✓ Free updates
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Questions
What does this tool make?
Two documents for each machine. The energy control procedure is the full written procedure for your lockout program: equipment details, people, energy sources, step-by-step shutdown and restart, shift changes, group lockout, and review and approval lines. The placard is a one-page summary to post at the machine, with photos and a table of every energy source and its isolation point. It opens with a worked LOTO procedure example for a conveyor that you can edit or clear.
When is a written lockout procedure required?
In US general industry, OSHA's standard 29 CFR 1910.147 requires documented energy control procedures for servicing and maintenance where the unexpected start-up of a machine, or a release of stored energy, could injure someone. A machine can be exempt from a written procedure only when all eight conditions in 1910.147(c)(4)(i) are met. Among them: a single energy source that is easy to identify and isolate, no stored or residual energy, one lock under the exclusive control of the person doing the work, servicing that creates no hazards for other employees, and no past accidents from that machine starting up unexpectedly during servicing. Work on cord-and-plug equipment is outside the standard when unplugging it controls the hazard and the plug stays under the exclusive control of the person doing the work. If you are not sure an exception applies, write the procedure.
What is the difference between the placard and the procedure?
The written procedure is the document OSHA asks for. Keep it in your lockout program binder with the approval signatures. The placard is a short version posted at the machine, so the isolation points and steps are in front of the person doing the work. OSHA does not require a placard, but many plants post one. Both print from the same data, so they stay consistent.
How often do lockout procedures need to be reviewed?
OSHA requires a periodic inspection of each energy control procedure at least once a year, under 29 CFR 1910.147(c)(6). It is done by an authorized employee other than the ones using the procedure. Where locks are used, the inspector reviews with each authorized employee their responsibilities under the procedure. The employer must certify each inspection, naming the machine, the date, the employees included and the inspector. The builder sets the next review one year after the effective date, flags procedures that are due or overdue, and prints an inspection record with those columns. Update a procedure whenever the machine or its energy sources change.
Where are my procedures and photos stored?
Only in this browser on this device. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account. Photos are resized to about 1,000 pixels on the long side before they are saved. Clearing your browser data deletes them, and procedures do not sync between devices, so download the PDFs as your record.
Will these documents make us OSHA compliant?
No document can do that on its own. The builder helps you write and post machine-specific procedures that include the elements OSHA lists for a written procedure. Your company stays responsible for its energy control program, training, lockout devices and periodic inspections, and for making sure each procedure matches the machine. Have a qualified person who knows the equipment check each procedure, ideally by walking the isolation points, before it is used.
How does the PDF download work on a phone?
Download PDF opens your phone's print screen. On iPhone, tap the Share button on that screen to save the PDF to Files or send it by email. On Android, choose Save as PDF as the printer. For placards, print in color and laminate them or use a plastic sleeve.
What if it isn't right for me?
Email support@plainworktools.com within 14 days of buying and you get a full refund. You don't need to give a reason.