11/02/2026
A lockout program is four things, and most plants have two of them.
Procedures, written for every machine, specific enough that someone who has never done the task can follow them. Software, so those procedures stay current and findable rather than living in a binder that was accurate in 2021. Training, split by role, because an authorized employee, an affected employee and a contractor each need something different. And a written policy that answers the questions procedures do not: group lockout, shift handover, contractor control, what happens when a lock has to come off and its owner is unreachable.
The common shape is good procedures and good training, no software and no policy. Which means the procedures drift out of date quietly, and every unusual situation gets resolved by whoever is standing there.
The policy is the cheapest of the four and the one most often missing.
LOTO services: https://vist.ly/5r3rt