One of the most common reasons a company hires a third party occupational safety and health
auditing firm is to assist in the creation of lockout tagout policies and procedures. These
procedures can be extremely complex, facility specific, and difficult to properly implement.
They are based upon Standard 1910.147, which is a very complicated standard and can be
interpreted in dozens of ways depending upon the facility for which the procedures are being
created.
Unfortunately, many owners will have lockout tagout procedures created but then never follow
up on them. And this is a critical mistake. Unlike some other areas of occupational safety and
health, which can be reviewed annually or only as OSHA updates their standards, lockout tagout
is constantly evolving. Lockout tagout policies and procedures need to be updated any time the
facility is changed or relocated, any time plant personnel change, any time the machinery inside
the facility is replaced or moved, or any time the standards are updated. For some companies,
this can mean multiple updates a year.
So to combat this, you need some kind of auditing program in place. For some, this is an internal
auditing schedule. For others, it involves hiring a third party lockout tagout auditing firm. Either
way, however, there are still potential pitfalls. If done in-house, then the burden of responsibility
falls on an already overworked safety team. And if a third party is utilized, then the costs can get
exorbitant and the time between audits is still a vulnerability.
Fortunately, there is now another option: web-based lockout tagout auditing software. With our
program, Factory Solutions Software, you can upload, track, and update your lockout tagout
procedures. This allows you to remain in control of your lockout tagout procedures, while also
giving the peace of mind of a third party lockout tagout auditing firm monitoring the procedures.
It supplements the time between professional audits or acts as a stopgap for in-house auditing.
If you have any questions about auditing lockout tagout policies and procedures or about our
Factory Solutions Software, please contact us. If you have anything to add about the importance
of an auditing schedule for lockout tagout, please leave a comment.
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