Updating policies and procedures for any area of occupational safety and health can be a tedious
task. First, you need to ensure you understand any changes to the federal guidelines which
govern the hazards, be it an OSHA Standard, NFPA code or standard, or a standard from any
other governing body. Next, you need to understand what changes have occurred within the
facility since the policy was created or last updated. Then, you need to reconcile the changes to
the guidelines with the changes to the facility to create a new version of the policies and
procedures which are both compliant and easily implemented by the safety team.
Fortunately, this is a process which normally does not need to be done often. There are, however,
a few areas of occupational safety and health, such as lockout tagout, which need more
aggressive monitoring and more frequent updating. In the case of lockout tagout, this is because
there are a great number of variables which impact the policies and procedures. Anytime there is
a change of personnel, machinery, location, or facility layout, there is the potential for a need to
update lockout tagout policies and procedures. This constant need to review the policies and
procedures, coupled with the time it can take to update them and the extremely complicated
OSHA Standard 1910.147 which governs them, is a remedy for a very difficult and time
consuming process.
As such, many companies hire third party lockout tagout auditing firms to assist in the
maintenance of their policies and procedures. Unfortunately, these services can be expensive,
take ownership of the lockout tagout policies and procedures out of the hands of management,
and still leave gaps in coverage between audits. As such, we have created Factory Solutions
Software, a web-based program which allows you to track, monitor, and update your lockout
tagout policies and procedures from anywhere you have an internet connection. It allows you to
maintain your own procedures, update them as needed in real time, and have the security of a
leading third party lockout tagout auditing firm overseeing them.
If you have any questions about updating policies and procedures for lockout tagout or about our
Factory Solutions Software, please contact us. If you have anything to add about the importance
of ensuring lockout tagout policies and procedures are updated, please leave a comment.
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