[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]
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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.
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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]
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