Lockout Lock

Lockout (or as it's sometimes known lockout/tagout) is the legal process of carrying out the isolation of machinery controlled by energy. This is done in order to effectively shut down dangerous machinery, prevent it from being operated and allows a team of trained professionals to carry out maintenance work while the lockout is being enforced.

The process requires that any energy source, whether it's continuously supplied from the mains or is created as a result of stored or residual energy, is shut off. Excess energy must be siphoned away, and it must be completely impossible for machinery to be energised during the lockout. In order to prevent accidental reactivation of the isolation point the user must attach a sturdy, applicable lockout device to the energy source being isolated. This should then be firmly secured in place by the use of hasps and padlocks, with designated team members given a key for the padlock(s) in order to ensure responsibility for the energy source's isolation is maintained.

Once this is secured, the energy source is isolated, can't be switched on, and work can commence on the machinery usually powered by the isolated energy source once the user has also attached a tag - hence the name 'tagout' - to the lockout combination in order to inform those around that lockout tagout is currently ongoing.

Not following these rules can have disastrous consequences. As horrible as it is, accidents all around the world are reported constantly throughout the years because employees do not have adequate training and lockout/tagout procedures are not enforced within the organisation. People have died because of this negligence, and many governing bodies place a legal responsibility on an employer to ensure that adequate lockout tagout training and procedures are in place to protect employees. Not adhering to these regulations can result in hefty fines, bans, injuries to employees and - in the worst cases - workplace deaths.

Our range of Lockout Lock equipment is designed to give users a comprehensive kit filled with all the materials needed to effectively carry out energy isolation. We stock lockout kits for use with electrical applications (including miniature circuit breaker lockouts), pneumatic, valve lockouts kits and much more.