On October 4th, 2016, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a proposed rule (81 FR 68504) to revise outdated, unnecessary, or redundant requirements that govern 18 standards concerning record keeping, general industry, maritime, and construction. One of the revisions concerns the existing lockout/tagout standard.

Currently, 29 CFR § 1910.147 uses the phrase "unexpected energization", a confusingly-worded reference to a de-energized piece of equipment or machine that cannot be restarted unless the lockout or tagout is manually removed by the worker servicing it. With the proposed revision of the rule, OSHA hopes to clear up the confusion, and revert back to what it believes is the original understanding of the standard - that is, all equipment servicing activities in which there are energization, start up, or stored energy hazards.

OSHA is accepting public comment until November 18th, 2016. Text of the proposed rule can be found here.

If you have questions about this proposed rule, please contact Trent Blake, Director of Security, Health, and Safety Services at tblake@keramida.com. 

Blog Author

Trent Blake, ASP
Director of Security, Health, and Safety Services
KERAMIDA Inc.

Contact Trent at tblake@keramida.com.