[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 119 (Tuesday, June 20, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38302-38304]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-15490]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Docket No. S-012-B]


The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout): Notice of the 
Availability of a Lookback Review Pursuant to the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act and Executive Order 12866

AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has 
completed a lookback review of its Lockout/Tagout Standard, 29 CFR 
1910.147, pursuant to Sec. 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act and 
Sec. 5 of Executive Order 12866. That review indicates that the 
standard protects 3.3 million workers at 1 million facilities; that it 
has reduced fatalities from unexpected activation of machinery at 
facilities in the automobile and steel making industries by 20% to 55% 
in the years since promulgation; that there is still a substantial 
amount of noncompliance; that the standard does not impose a 
significant impact on small business; and that public commenters agree 
that the standard should remain in effect. Based on this review, OSHA 
concludes that the Lockout/Tagout Standard should be continued without 
change and that OSHA should continue to improve its compliance 
assistance in this area.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph Pipkin, Director, Electrical 
and Mechanical Engineering Standards, Rm.N-3609, OSHA, U.S. Department 
of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210, 
telephone (202) 693-2042, Fax (202) 693-1663. Direct technical 
inquiries about the Lockout/Tagout Standard to: Walter Siegfried, 
General Industry Compliance Assistance, Rm. N-3107, telephone

[[Page 38303]]

(202) 693-1866, or visit the OSHA Homepage at www.OSHA.dol.gov.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the entire report may be obtained from the OSHA 
Publication Office, Rm. N2101, 200 Constitution Ave., NW. Washington, 
DC 20210, telephone (202) 693-1888, Fax (202) 693-2498. The full 
report, comments, and referenced documents are available for review at 
the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. S-012-B, Rm. N-2625, 200 
Constitution Ave., NW. Washington, DC 20210, telephone (202) 693-2119.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Occupational Safety and Health 
Administration (OSHA) issued its final standard on the ``The Control of 
Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)'' on September 1, 1989 at 54 FR 
36644-36695. That standard, more commonly known as the ``Lockout/Tagout 
Standard,'' is codified at 29 CFR 1910.147.
    OSHA has completed a ``Lookback'' review of the Lockout/Tagout 
standard. Lookback reviews evaluate the effectiveness of a standard in 
achieving the statutory goals of the Act under which it was promulgated 
and determines whether action is needed to revise or rescind the 
standard. Lookback reviews also evaluate whether changes need to be 
made to the standard to mitigate any impacts on a substantial number of 
small entities. This Federal Register notice announces the availability 
of that review and briefly summarizes it. The standard establishes 
requirements employers must follow to disable machinery and equipment 
and to prevent the release of potentially hazardous energy during the 
servicing and maintenance of that machinery and equipment. The Lockout/
Tagout standard requires employers to develop and implement lockout/
tagout programs and to train their workers to follow required 
procedures during servicing and maintenance work. ``Lockout'' refers to 
the practice of installing a lock on an energy-isolating device, such 
as a circuit breaker or shut-off valve, so that the equipment will not 
be energized by mistake. The term ``tagout'' refers to the practice of 
attaching a warning tag to an energy-isolating device to warn employees 
not to energize the equipment until the warning tag has been removed.
    In 1997, the Agency initiated a regulatory review of the standard, 
as required by Section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), 5 
U.S.C. 601, 610, and Section 5 of Executive Order (EO) 12866. Section 
610 of the RFA requires agencies to determine whether their standards 
should be continued without change or should be amended or rescinded, 
consistent with the objectives of the Occupational Safety and Health 
Act (OSH Act), to minimize any significant impact of the rule on a 
substantial number of small entities. Section 5 of EO 12866 requires 
agencies to determine whether, to reduce the regulatory burden on the 
American people, their families, communities, State, local, and tribal 
governments, and industries, the standard should be modified or 
eliminated to make it more effective in achieving its regulatory 
objectives, or less burdensome, or to bring it into better alignment 
with the President's priorities and the principles set forth in the 
Executive Order.
    To facilitate the review, OSHA on May 29, 1997, requested public 
comments on the Lockout/Tagout Standard at 62 FR 29089. OSHA also held 
a public meeting on June 30, 1997, on the review. Comments and other 
materials received in the course of the review were placed in public 
Docket S-012-B.
    OSHA specifically asked for comments on eight aspects of the rule, 
including the benefits and utility of the rule in its current form or 
in an amended form; potential feasible alternatives to the rule; the 
continued need for the rule; the complexity of the rule; evidence of 
overlap, duplication, or conflict between the rule and other federal, 
state, and local rules; information on economic, technological, and 
other material changes since the promulgation of the rule; alternatives 
to the rule or portions of the rule that could minimize significant 
impacts on small businesses; and the effectiveness of the rule as 
implemented by small entities. Comments were received from employers, 
unions, trade associations, safety organizations, the Small Business 
Administration and others.

Conclusions

    Based on the comments and testimony of participants in this 
lookback review process and other evidence submitted to the public 
docket, OSHA concludes that the Agency's Control of Hazardous Energy 
(Lockout/Tagout) standard should be continued without change. The 
evidence also demonstrates that the standard does not need to be 
rescinded or amended to minimize significant impacts on a substantial 
number of small entities.
    OSHA also finds that the Lockout/Tagout standard is necessary to 
protect employee safety and health, is compatible with other OSHA 
standards containing lockout/tagout provisions, is not duplicative or 
in conflict with other Federal, State, or local government rules, is 
not inappropriately burdensome, and is consistent with the President's 
priorities and the principles of EO 12866. In addition, although the 
standard is technically complex, compliance assistance materials will 
assist employers in interpreting the standard. Further, no changes have 
occurred in technological, economic, or other factors that would 
warrant revision of the standard at this time.

Impact of the Standard

    The Lockout/Tagout standard protects approximately 3.3 million 
employees working at 1 million firms. There is some evidence that the 
level of compliance could be improved; the standard is generally one of 
the five standards most frequently cited by OSHA Compliance Officers 
for violations.
    The most typical situation covered by the standard is to protect 
employees from death or injury when a machine is unexpectedly turned on 
by an operator while another employee is servicing or repairing the 
machine. For example, accidents often occur when one employee is inside 
the equipment or has his or her hands inside a press to repair or 
adjust it, and another person inadvertently turns the machine on, 
crushing or amputating the repair worker's limb.
    The standard provides, in general terms, that the repair person 
must lock out the switch and keep the key while repairing the machine 
so that the machine cannot be activated while the repairs are taking 
place. The standard also has other provisions on training, setting up 
programs to implement the standard, and exceptions.
    Three sources of data were submitted to the docket that demonstrate 
the rule's effectiveness: Data from the United Automobile, Aerospace, 
and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) fatality database; 
data from a similar database maintained by the United Steelworkers of 
America (USWA); and data from a study of sawmill injuries in Maine. The 
UAW database shows a significant decline in lockout-related fatalities. 
In the years between 1989 (when the final rule was published) and 1997, 
lockout-related fatalities declined by 20 percent per year; when the 
concomitant increase in the proportion of auto workers exposed to 
lockout hazards is taken into account, the UAW believes that a 30 
percent annual decline in the rate of these fatalities has occurred.
    The USWA database tells a similar story: over a seven year period 
(1990-

[[Page 38304]]

1997), a 55 percent reduction in lockout/tagout-related fatalities 
occurred at the 10 basic steel-producing companies represented in the 
data base. The third study involved an epidemiological analysis of wood 
product industry workers in Maine and included 157 cases involving 
injured workers (``cases'') and 251 cases involving uninjured workers 
(``controls''). This study showed that injured workers were three times 
less likely than uninjured workers to work in an establishment having a 
lockout/tagout program. Although the data from this epidemiological 
study do not establish a direct link between injuries and the absence 
of lockout/tagout programs, they do suggest an association between 
these factors.
    In addition to these analyses, commenters (including companies like 
Bell Atlantic and Kodak), unions (such as the UAW, USWA, and the 
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers), employer groups (such 
as the Organization Resources Counselors), and professional societies, 
such as the American Society of Safety Engineers, stated that the 
standard had been effective in saving lives and preventing injuries. 
Overall, most comments supported continuation of the standard because 
it had been effective in achieving its worker protection goal. Some 
participants suggested that OSHA revise certain provisions of the rule 
they felt were complex. However, most commenters urged OSHA to address 
these issues by providing compliance assistance materials rather than 
by reopening the rulemaking.
    Those commenters to the docket who represented small businesses, 
such as the National Association of Manufacturers, the Society of the 
Plastics Industry, and the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers 
Association, also generally agreed. They stated that additional 
compliance assistance, rather than a reopening of the rulemaking, was 
an appropriate way for OSHA to address these commenters' concerns.
    In response to these suggestions, OSHA has decided to provide 
additional compliance assistance materials. Specifically, OSHA intends 
to:

     Review and update the Lockout/Tagout compliance 
directive, STD 1-7.3;
     Review existing interpretations relating to the 
standard and develop interpretations to address questions raised by 
review participants; and
     Develop, in conjunction with the National Automobile 
Dealers Association, compliance assistance materials for industries 
engaged in vehicle maintenance and repair.

    OSHA has already completed several documents related to the 
Lockout/Tagout standard in response to comments made during this 
lookback review. These include:

    -The Lockout/Tagout Interactive Training Program, which 
consists of three major components: a Tutorial, a group of abstracts 
called ``Hot Topics,'' and a group of Interactive Case Studies. The 
Tutorial explains the standard in a question/answer format. The 
``Hot Topics'' consist of five abstracts containing a detailed 
discussion of major issues in which relevant highlighted sections of 
the all-inclusive documents are linked together. In the Interactive 
Case Studies, seven simulated Lockout/Tagout inspections are 
presented.
    -The Integrated Preamble, which combines the final rule 
preamble published in the September 1, 1989 Federal Register and the 
final rule corrections and technical amendments document published 
in the September 20, 1990 Federal Register.
    -The Lockout/Tagout Plus Advisor, which is interactive, 
expert, diagnostic software. It allows users to be interviewed about 
their activities to determine whether workers might be exposed to 
hazards from moving machinery or electricity or other sources of 
energy. It asks questions to determine whether the work is covered 
by the Lockout/Tagout Standard or other standards concerned with 
hazardous energy. The software responds to the users' facts to 
provide expert guidance, explanations, and assistance.

    These materials may be obtained from the OSHA Publications Office, 
Room N-2101, 200 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210, or 
the OSHA web page at www.osha.dol.gov.

    Signed at Washington, D.C. this 2nd day of June, 2000.
Charles N. Jeffress,
Assistant Secretary of Labor.
[FR Doc. 00-15490 Filed 6-19-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-26-P