Protect your employees from electrocution and electric injury with the OSHSA lockout/tagout 

training publications. 
 

A true story that happened in a senior housing community: a maintenance worker (Bob) went 

to a floor’s power control panel and turned off the power to a room to replace a residents’ air 

conditioning unit. He didn’t tell his colleague (Jeff) who was at lunch that he was working on

the air conditioning unit. When Jeff came back from lunch he went to that floor on another 

work order, and you guessed it: he thought the power breaker had tripped and turned the 

power back on. Bob had just stepped away from working on the air conditioner when the 

power to the room was turned on. He was two seconds away from being electrocuted.

To protect employees from electrocution and other electrical injury the Occupational Health 

and Safety Administration (OSHA) requires that any employee servicing or maintaining 

machines or equipment must be trained and follow “lockout/tagout” procedures. OSHA 

regulations mandate that employees need to be trained to ensure that they know, understand, 

and follow the hazardous energy control procedures. The training must cover at least three 

areas: aspects of the employer’s energy control program; elements of the energy control 

procedure relevant to the employee’s duties or assignment; and the various requirements of 

the OSHA standards related to lockout/tagout.

The standard outlines measures for controlling hazardous energies—electrical, mechanical, 

hydraulic, pneumatic, chemical, thermal, and other energy sources. In addition, OSHA requires 

to protect employees working on electric circuits and equipment. 

To view the OSHA Lockout/Tagout Fact Sheet, click here.

To view the OSHA “Control of Hazardous Energy - Lockout/Tagout” publication, click here. 

To view a list of OSHA publications, click here.