Lockout/tagout and accident prevention tags

Signs are for hazards that stay put. Tags are for the temporary ones: a pump out for repair, a valve that must stay closed while someone works downstream, a machine locked out for maintenance. OSHA covers them in two places, and it is worth knowing both.

Accident prevention tags, 1910.145(f)

29 CFR 1910.145(f) says tags are to be used to prevent accidental injury from conditions, equipment or operations that are out of the ordinary, unexpected or not readily apparent, and to stay in place until the hazard is eliminated or the work is done. Every required tag must:

• Carry a signal word, such as DANGER, CAUTION or BIOHAZARD, and a major message stating the hazard or the instruction.
• Have a signal word readable from at least five feet away, or farther if the hazard warrants it.
• Present the message in words, pictographs or both, understandable to every employee who may be exposed.
• Be attached as close as safely possible to the hazard, by a positive means such as string, wire or adhesive that prevents loss or unintentional removal.

Employees must also be told what each kind of tag means. The rule allows WARNING tags for a hazard level between caution and danger, and its appendix recommends colors: red for danger, yellow for caution, orange for warning and fluorescent orange or orange-red for biological hazards, each with contrasting lettering.

Lockout/tagout tags, 1910.147

The control of hazardous energy standard, 29 CFR 1910.147, sets stricter rules for tags used in lockout/tagout. Under 1910.147(c)(5)(ii), lockout and tagout devices must be:

• Durable: able to withstand the environment they are used in for as long as they are in place. A tag must not deteriorate or become illegible from weather, moisture or corrosive conditions.
• Standardized: by color, shape or size, and for tags, by print and format too.
• Substantial: a tag and its attachment must be strong enough to prevent accidental removal. The standard describes the attachment as non-reusable, attachable by hand, self-locking and with an unlocking strength of at least 50 pounds, comparable to a one-piece nylon cable tie.
• Identifiable: showing the identity of the employee who applied it.

Under 1910.147(c)(5)(iii), a tag must warn against hazardous conditions if the equipment is energized, with a legend such as Do Not Start, Do Not Open, Do Not Close, Do Not Energize or Do Not Operate. The standard also points out that a tag is only a warning. It does not physically restrain anything, which is why a lock is required wherever the energy-isolating device can take one.

Making one here

The tag builder draws a 3.25 by 6.25 inch hang tag with a grommet hole, in danger, caution, warning, biohazard or notice colors. Type the major message, then add up to five write-in rows. A row with only a label, such as NAME or DATE, draws a blank line to fill in by hand; a row like DEPT:MAINTENANCE prints the value. That covers the identity requirement on every tag you print.

A printed paper tag is fine for training and for many 1910.145 uses, but a lockout tag has to survive its environment. For lockout, print onto a durable stock, laminate it or use a tag made for the job, and attach it with a device that meets the standard. Your written energy control program decides which tags you use; keep them standardized so everyone recognizes them.

Browse ready-made tags in the tag directory, or start from a blank DANGER tag.