Training and Communication
Employee Training and Communication
The employer is required to provide effective training for all employees covered by the lockout/tagout standard and ensure that all employees understand the basic program concepts, including the purpose, function, and restrictions of the energy control program, and how to control those hazards.
Authorized employees must possess the knowledge and skills necessary for the safe application, use, and removal of energy controls. This training also must make employees aware that disregarding or violating the energy control program could endanger their own lives or the lives of co-workers.
Why Training is Important
It is important to train employees so they understand the purpose and function of the energy control program and get the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) necessary to safely apply, use and remove the energy controls. The LOTO standard requires different levels of training for the three categories of workers: authorized, affected, and other employees.
Man Survives Going Through Wood Chipper
An employee at a wood chip company in Washington State, USA went through a wood chipper and survived. According to a recent television news story, Frank Arce worked at a company that shreds up bark into wood chips.
In January 2014, something got stuck inside the machine and Arce went into the wood chipper to get the object. He thought everything was turned off. However, a fellow employee turned on the machine while Arce was inside.
Arce spent some time in the hospital with a broken pelvis, shattered ankle, bruised liver, broken leg and a cut that runs the length of his body on the backside. The cut was so deep, it crushed his knee. He said he received the right care quickly because of the training and help from his co-workers at the Swanson Bark and Wood Products Company in Longview, Washington. The company paid 100% of Arce's medical bills.
The Washington State Bureau of Labor and Industries investigated the accident.
Source: KATU-TV, Portland, Oregon, January 2014.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
3-1. Who must possess the knowledge and skills necessary for the safe application, use, and removal of energy controls?
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