Workers can get hurt, including electrocuted, while adjusting or performing maintenance and repairs on various kinds of energized equipment, such as table saws, conveyors, mixers, etc. That’s why the OHS laws require energized equipment to be “locked out” before repair and maintenance work can be done on it. But the use of individual lockout procedures isn’t always practical. So that’s why several jurisdiction’s OHS laws permit so-called “group lockout.” Here’s what you need to do to comply with group lockout requirements.

GROUP LOCKOUT PROCEDURE: Click here to view a Model Group Lockout Procedure that you can adapt and use in your workplace.

Defining Our Terms

This article focuses on group lockout requirements for equipment operated by electricity or another form of energy, as opposed to requirements for “electrical equipment,” that is, equipment designed to generate, supply or transmit electricity, which has its own lockout requirements.

HOW TO COMPLY

All Canadian jurisdictions address lockout in their OHS regulations in either a dedicated lockout section or as part of their general sections on machinery and equipment. The lockout requirements address individual workers locking out equipment using personal locks assigned to them. But under certain circumstances, using a group lockout procedure may be more effective or appropriate than an individual lock procedure. That’s why five jurisdictions—AB, BC, NB, NL and YK—have specific requirements for group lockout. Although there are some differences between jurisdictions, you should take these basic steps to comply with group lockout requirements:

Read the rest of the article on how to comply with group lockout requirements on OHS Insider.

(Note: subscription is required; to get instant access to the recording of this webinar, simply sign up for a No-Obligation Trial of OHSInsider.com.

It’s not smart, but definitely not that unusual, for a company to attempt to fire a worker for reporting a safety concern. But an incident in Tennessee is a little different, in that a worker was fired for refusing to continue working after he hurt himself on the job.

The truck driver, who initiated a whistleblower complaint with OSHA after being terminated, had been making a delivery to a Murfreesburo, TN, supermarket when he slipped, striking his chest and stomach on a ladder. He continued to work, believing that the pain would eventually subside.

Although he awakened the next day feeling ill and fatigued, the driver reported for work anyway. After making one delivery, he was assigned a second one and at that point he told a company dispatcher that he could not continue to work that day because of his injury.

The driver also told the dispatcher that he did not have sufficient allowable service hours remaining to make the delivery without contravening federal regulations. The dispatcher told him to collect his belongings from the truck.

The company, Mark Alvis Inc. of Brush Creek TN, later told OSHA that the worker had quit after removing his belongings. However, an OSHA investigation found that the driver had been wrongly fired. Mark Alvis Inc., along with owner Mike Alvis and dispatcher Jack Taylor, were ordered to reinstate the driver and pay him $180,000 in back wages and damages.