Lockout / Tagout Workplace Injuries

Lockout/Tagout mistakes lead to workplace injuries and wrongful death accidents. Learn your rights as a worker.

Workers in many factory and industrial environments must work with equipment which possesses massive amounts of stored energy. While this equipment is vital for operations and makes working more efficient, they can be a source of danger to those that work around and with them.

OSHA is a governmental safety outfit which comes up with, implements and enforces work safety rules in such environments with the aim of protecting the lives of American workers. Because of the potential for large industrial and factory equipment to hurt workers when they are intentionally or unintentionally switched on from a position of dormancy, the safety body decided to come up with a set of rules to help protect workers at all times.

Lockout/tagout is a procedure that was designed by OSHA to help secure equipment so that the massive amounts of energy they store are less likely to injure or kill workers. Lockout tagout products range in type and price, and it’s important for employers to closely follow OSHA guidelines when looking to purchase these for their equipment.

If hazardous energy isn’t controlled, workers can suffer from a myriad of effects such as burns, electrocution, lacerations, cuts, fractures, amputations, and wrongful death.

Here’s a list of some of the most common lockout/tagout (LOTO) tools:

• Padlocks
• Circuit breaker lockout tools
• Switch lockout tools
• Lockout hasps
• Gate valve lockout tools
• Graphical label lockout signs

Your supervisor is supposed to do everything in their power to ensure that lockout/tagout procedures are followed to a tee in order to keep you safe. Training workers on this procedure also lies in their domain, as does maintaining both the machines and lockout/tagout tools.

Injured due to a lockout tagout failure? Get legal help today!

Lock-out / tag-out procedures are mandatory to ensure workplace safety, and employers can be fined heavily for not following them. The injuries that you as a worker may sustain can put you out of work for an extended amount of time, but our Dallas injury attorneys can help you seek damages through a work accident claim or lawsuit.

If you or a loved one has been injured due to a lockout/tagout error, mistake, or malfunction, you may be entitled to money damages. Please call us today at (214) 651-6100 for your free consultation. We look forward to helping you get the justice you deserve.