When entering the shutdown, one of the first things is to lock- and tag out the equipment where the activities are about to happen. Companies have used endless amounts of hours to create LOTO procedures that ensure the safety of the people working with the equipment. Removing all of the energies, collecting the keys to lock box, locking it by everyone working with the equipment should ensure that the work is safe to conduct.
Regardingless of the comprehensive LOTO procedure, continuous training to said procedure and all of the efforts, sometimes the worst happens, equipment starts when it is under maintenance. Most of the time, nothing happens, but every time this is a potential fatal accident. When the worst happens, the event is carefully investigated in order to prevent it from happening again. Reasons for said events can be:
· Person just “quickly does” something to equipment prior it has been locked out or after the LOTO has been removed
· False communication lets people assume it is safe to start the works or LOTO is removed too early
· One- or many of the lock points are ignored or LOTO is placed to wrong equipment/component
· Person conducting the LOTO activities is new and not well instructed and some of the LOTO points are missed
Or something else happens. Since shutdowns are usually events with tight time schedules and no one wants to be the one causing the shutdown overrun, there is a pressure to conduct the LOTO as quickly as possible. At times some lock point is missed, and the worst might happen even though the procedure itself is rigid as a bedrock.
If we add more independent reviews for interlocking, safety can be increased, but that comes with the cost of time. Something we always have too little of.
If we add all of the lock points already into the shutdown schedule with sufficient guidance, we can have both, increased safety without compromising the timetable. Think if there would be 100 % audit rail for all of the LOTO events with pictures and real time communication from the progress of the LOTO, that would be a game changer. All this is already available, read more about how Sights can help you managing LOTO.