Anyone working on a system that needs to be locked out should be trained. For example electricians, mechanics, welders, pipefitters. In Canada each worker and supervisor must put locks on either the equipment or on a lockbox that contains the keys for a system that has been locked by operations and verified by the workers or supervisor of a work crew. Therefore, each person involved needs trained on how the lockout system works.

My opinion any one that can be affected or do it should be certified in this knowledge.

We train everyone as an affected employee at the very least. Our Supervisors and Leads and Maintenance employees are authorized for LOTO.

LO/TO training should be extended to anyone who has a job role that touches operating plant areas. Operations, maintenance, supervision, inspection, engineering/technical/EHS. Reason being that any of these folks can come into contact with or be involved with planning, setting up for, or jobs in progress requiring LO/TO.

There are actually a few levels of training available.

Authorized: these are the team members actively performing lockout/tagout. They are required by OSHA to be trained yearly. The training involves understanding the company lockout tagout policy and properly following a procedure with a hands-on lockout.

Affected: anyone who will be exposed to lockout tagout but may not necessarily perform the function. Machine operators may not perform lockout tagout but need to understand what it is when they come in contact with it.

Awareness: this is a very high level understanding of lockout tagout. These are not machine operators and will not come in direct contact with lockout tagout but need to understand what it is when they see things locked and tagged around the plant.

Any other questions just shoot me an email paul_koenig@bradycorp.com.