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RoboticsLockout/tagout of a robot cell: Servicing a robot inside its safeguarded cell
Servicing a robot inside its safeguarded cell. An industrial robot needs maintenance inside its cell. Before anyone reaches in, you shut it down, cut every energy source, put your own lock on each one, release the stored energy and prove it will not start; when the work is done, you clear the cell, tell everyone and remove your lock. It is the federal lockout/tagout sequence for the control of hazardous energy.
Free to startThis scenario
- Servicing a robot inside its safeguarded cell.
The steps
- Before shutdown, know the type and size of the energy, its hazards and how to control it.
- Tell the affected employees before the lockout is applied.
- Shut the robot down in an orderly way, with its own shutdown procedure.
- Locate and operate every energy isolating device needed to cut the robot from its energy sources.
- Put your own lock on each device to hold it in the off position, or a tag that clearly forbids moving it.
- Relieve, disconnect or restrain all stored or residual energy.
- Before starting work, verify the robot is isolated and de-energized.
- When the work is done, inspect the cell: nonessential items removed and the robot's components intact.
- Check that every employee is safely positioned or out of the cell.
- Each employee removes the lock or tag they put on.
- Tell the affected employees the locks are off before the robot is started.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Only the authorized employees doing the servicing apply the lockout or tagout.
- A tag is only a warning: it does not physically hold the device like a lock, and it can give a false sense of security.
To pass
- The steps follow the federal sequence: prepare, shut down, isolate, lock or tag, release stored energy, verify.
- To test or position the robot with power: clear tools and materials, remove employees, remove the locks, energize and test, then de-energize and lock out again.
- The employer certifies each employee's training with the name and dates, and inspects the procedure at least once a year.
Official source
Federal · OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.147
29 CFR 1910.147, The control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout)
GovInfo publishes 29 CFR 1910.147 free: the full lockout/tagout sequence, from preparing the shutdown to releasing the locks.
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