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RoboticsLOTO Case Studies
Twenty flashcards on the right call in OSHA's lockout/tagout case studies, from a robot cage to an overhead crane.
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20 cards
- Robot cage: can the electrically interlocked gate alone meet lockout/tagout duties?
- No. The gate is control circuitry, not an energy isolating device, and it does not deenergize the robot arm.
- Robot cage: is unjamming a robot arm part of normal production?
- No. The robot is stopped, and entering the cage bypasses a safety device.
- Robot cage: does the minor servicing exception cover unjamming the arm?
- No. It is not done during normal production and uses no alternative measure that gives effective protection.
- Robot cage: the employer says lockout erases the robot's memory. Does that excuse it?
- No. Difficulty is no exemption; the robot could be rewired or reloaded from another computer.
- Are push buttons and selector switches energy isolating devices?
- No. Control circuit devices like these are not energy isolating devices.
- Printing press: rollers are cleaned while spinning with guards bypassed. Is it covered by the rule?
- Yes. A guard is bypassed and hands go into the danger zone, so it counts as servicing.
- What must hold for the minor servicing exception to apply?
- Every element, including alternative measures that give effective protection.
- Nitrogen vessels at about 5,000 psig: is that hazardous energy?
- Yes. It must be bled off and each vessel kept at atmospheric pressure before the seals are replaced.
- Nitrogen vessels: a group does the job. What must each worker be able to do?
- Put a personal lock or tag on each isolating device or the group lockbox, and verify the isolation.
- Does the lockout rule require a work authorization permit?
- Not specifically. A permit may support a generic procedure if it names the equipment, energies, isolation points and safe methods.
- A plant has 130 procedures, 51 of them unique. What must the periodic inspection cover?
- Each unique procedure, watching a representative number of authorized employees and reviewing it with all the others.
- Are group meetings without a real lockout enough for the periodic inspection?
- No. The inspector must observe the procedure actually being carried out.
- Sour water line: an operator phoned to say the valves were locked, but no one checked. What was missed?
- Verification of isolation by the authorized employees before the work started.
- Sour water line: operators who were not doing the repair locked the valves. Which rule was broken?
- Only the authorized employees doing the servicing may apply lockout or tagout.
- Sour water line: must the blanking and tagging list be kept?
- Yes. It is part of the permit, and without it the periodic inspection cannot work.
- Steel mill: a nearby motor unit rolled by and hurt a worker under a locked-out car. What was required?
- Protection from interconnected and nearby machines: effective guarding, or lock those out too.
- Overhead crane: a corroded lever was locked off but the switch stayed on. What step would have caught it?
- Verifying deenergization, such as trying the start button, before touching anything.
- Overhead crane: which rule covers the electrical work on conductors?
- 29 CFR 1910.333; one written program can meet it and 1910.147 together.
- What sequence applies when locks must come off briefly to test or position a machine?
- Clear tools, remove people, remove the devices, energize and test, then deenergize and reapply the controls.
- What does the rule require at a shift change during a lockout?
- Specific procedures for an orderly handoff of lock protection from the off-going to the oncoming workers.
Official sources
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Lockout/Tagout eTool, Case Study 2: Automotive Component Lubrication Robotics
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), via GovInfo (GPO)
29 CFR 1910.147: The control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout) (CFR 2025 edition)
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Lockout/Tagout eTool, Case Study 1: Printing Press Roll Cleaning
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Lockout/Tagout eTool, Case Study 3: Replacement of Nitrogen Pressure Vessel Seals
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Lockout/Tagout eTool, Case Study 4: Multiple Energy Control Procedures
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Lockout/Tagout eTool, Case Study 5: Sour Water Pipeline Repairs
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Lockout/Tagout eTool, Case Study 6: Steel Mill Teeming Car Repairs
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Lockout/Tagout eTool, Case Study 7: Overhead Crane Servicing and Maintenance
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