Toolbox Talks
Topic: Basic Awareness of Equipment Isolation
Equipment Isolation
A key of basic safety rule is to isolate the hazards before working on any equipment i.e. to check:
- Electrical equipment (i.e., to avoid electrical safety).
- Moving machinery (i.e., to prevent from mechanical hazards).
- Pipes & equipment containing hydrocarbons & other service.
- Hydraulics (i.e., to prevent from mechanical failures).
Hazards: Electricity, hydraulic, pneumatic, etc.
- At its simplest level this may just be unplugging the equipment or turning it “OFF”.
Examples:
- Don’t change a wheel on a grinder whilst it is still plugged in.
- Don’t clean trapped material in a lawn mower whilst it is running.
- Don’t put your hands near moving parts whilst equipment is running.
(e.g.: we had an accident in the canteen when a worker puts his hand in a running Dough mixing machine).
- Incident with the moving fan belts.
For any work requiring a permit to work, we have a format system of isolation –
LOTO (Lock Out & Tag Out)
- Any persons required to do isolations will be trained on this procedure.
- If you are doing maintenance work or work involving electrical, process lines, hydraulic or mechanical energy, you should only start work once you are sure the equipment is appropriately isolated.
- Permit to work in place.
- Tags on values.
- Tags on the LCS.
- Bump Test / Kick Start: To ensure that the electric motors are isolated, the bump check is carried out by pressing the “Start” button on the LCS before starting the job. This is jointly done by the field operator along with the maintenance supervisor. After confirmation, “Do Not Operate Tag” is displayed on the local panel.
Other Equipment
We need to ensure that all equipment is considered.
Eg.
- We had an incident whilst somebody was doing a painting job near a fin fan and at the same time the fan was switched ON.
- Potentially serious near miss on the tank farm area where a contractor discovered that the Mixer motor. He had been given a permit for was still live despite the permit saying it was isolated. The contractor worker performed the Bum check prior to starting the work.
Lock Out: The placement of locks on an energy isolating device (such as switch, a circuit breaker or a valve) ensuring that the energy isolating device and equipment being controlled cannot be operated until the lockout device is removed.
Tag Out: A prominent warning device such as a Tag attached to an isolating device used to prohibit personnel from operating or removing that device.
Ensure under-mentioned points regarding Policy:
- What is the equipment maintenance Lockout/Tagout Policy at workplace?
- Does worker face any difficulty during implementation of policy at workplace?
- Is there a way that the policy could be changed to make the job easier, but also keep everyone safe?