Canadian Occupational Safety

August/September 2015 23 A t Moosehead Breweries in Saint John, N.B., workers are surrounded by machines, some used in the brewing process and others in production. These machines, which are similar to those used in many manufacturing plants, are powered by energy sources that may present hidden safety hazards, says brewery safety manager Jamie Pellegrini. A carton erector, for example, uses air with suction cups to open fl attened cartons and uses air pressure again to shoot glue onto the bottoms of the cases. The bottle fi ller uses water to rinse off and automatically clean items like valves. "You don't want to be working on a machine and, all of a sudden, get blasted with water," he says. To ensure operators understand the importance of proper lockout and energy isolation procedures, Mooseh- ead involves workers in the process. "We have operators helping us develop the lockout procedures for the machine. Then, they help test the lockout to verify everything works and certify the lockout," says Pellegrini. "So, they're involved right from the get-go. They can see the dangers and risks involved, and they understand why they have to follow procedures." Machine maintenance workers and operators in industrial workplaces are required to perform daily repair and maintenance tasks, from cleaning to replacing a motor. An effective lockout/tagout (LOTO) program helps protect them from serious injury and death by preventing residual energy from unexpectedly causing a machine or other piece of equipment to move or operate during servicing. Lockout entails bringing a machine to a stop, isolating or locking out hazardous power sources and releasing stored energy to put the machine in a zero-energy state. "We see lockout applied incorrectly all the time," says Ian Rood, principal of Langley, B.C.-based UBSafe. "It looks as though they're applying it correctly to the energy source, but they're missing out on the stored energy in the system, which exists because of the way the machine is designed." Hazardous energy sources include electrical, pneumatic (pressurized air), hydraulic (pressurized water), mechanical, gravitational and chemical. Several types of energy are often present in one workplace. At Moosehead Breweries, for example, the LOTO program covers electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic and mechanical. In a brewery, Pellegrini says, two different approaches to lockout are needed. On the packaging side, where machines include a packer, labeller and fi ller, lockout is fairly straightforward. However, machines on the brewing side — which include a storage tank, beer tank and fi lter — are part of a single process. "If I shut one unit off, I affect not only the equipment I'm working on, whole other departments might have to shut down. Everything is connected. And timing is a big thing: I may need to put yeast into a tank at a certain time. If I can't do that, I might ruin the product," says Pellegrini. "So you do a lot of predictive work on the machines. It's a planned job as opposed to (shutting) everything off when an unexpected issue arises." An effective program includes: risk assessment; overall company policy; documented procedures for each unique machine, piece of equipment or process; training; and audit and enforcement, says Kristin Petaski, co-founder of Workplace Engineering Solutions in Winnipeg. After doing a comprehensive assessment to identify hazardous energies used, as well as processes and tasks, a company should develop an overall policy. This sets out general rules on how the company will handle lockout for its various machines and across multiple sites. The policy will identify all hazard- ous energy sources at the facility, types of machines and tasks that require lockout and go on to outline how procedures should be developed and enforced. In addition, Petaski says, the policy identifi es duties and responsibilities; steps to be included in the Comprehensive, written policy should include step-by-step instructions By Linda Johnson written policy should include step-by-step machine-specifi c instructions; lockout hardware to be used; and training and auditing. It should also set rules for how to manage the following: • Shift change: When a machine must remain locked out while employees are changing shift. • Removal of locks: When an employee leaves and forgets a lock on a machine. • Group lockout: When lockout of one machine involves multiple people. • Contractors: When technicians from outside companies come in to service equipment. Employers should have written procedures specifi c to each machine that needs to be maintained or repaired. Jamie Button, marketing manager at Brady Canada in Richmond Hill, Ont., recommends posting these procedures at the machine. "Someone may skip that whole (lockout) process if it means they have to walk across the plant to someone's offi ce to get the procedures. They think 'I can just do it quick.' But that defeats the purpose of having the written procedures." CSA Z460-13, Control of hazard- ous energy, says only authorized, or qualifi ed, personnel should do energy isolation and lockout. "Autho- rized" persons are distinguished from "affected" persons who are those not directly involved in the work requir- ing energy control but who may be in the area. Procedures will identify the machine, the types of energy sources on the machine and the number and types of equipment needed to perform Essential elements of a program

• Cover