Lockout Tagout Tryout: A Guide for Affected Employees

Every day at scrap metal facilities, authorized employees perform maintenance on balers, shears, conveyors, and cranes. During these critical repairs, certain equipment gets locked out and tagged. You might notice a padlock on a disconnect switch or a bright red tag hanging from a control panel. As an affected employee—someone who operates this equipment during normal production but isn’t performing the maintenance—you have specific responsibilities that directly impact both your safety and the safety of your coworkers.

Understanding your role as an affected employee isn’t just about following rules. It’s about preventing deaths and catastrophic injuries that occur when equipment unexpectedly starts up during maintenance. In scrap metal operations, where hydraulic pressures can crush, conveyor systems can catch and pull, and electrical systems carry lethal current, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Who Are Affected Employees?

First, let’s be crystal clear about definitions. In lockout tagout procedures, there are three categories of employees:

Authorized employees are trained workers who perform maintenance, servicing, or repair work and actually apply locks and tags to equipment. These are typically your maintenance technicians and electricians.

Affected employees are workers who operate the equipment during normal production but do not perform the servicing or maintenance. This is likely you—the baler operator, the crane operator, the material handler, or the equipment operator working the production floor.

Other employees work in areas where servicing occurs but don’t operate or maintain the equipment.

Your responsibilities as an affected employee are different from those of authorized employees, but they’re equally critical to preventing accidents.

Your Primary Responsibility: Never Attempt to Start Locked Out Equipment

This is the cardinal rule that supersedes everything else. If you see a lock or tag on equipment you normally operate, you do not—under any circumstances—attempt to remove that lock, start that equipment, or restore energy to that system. This applies even if:

• Your supervisor is pressuring you to meet production quotas
• You believe the maintenance work is complete
• The equipment “looks” ready to operate
• You think someone forgot to remove the lockout
• Production has been stopped for hours and you’re losing money
• You recognize the lock and know whose it is

A lock and tag on equipment means someone’s life depends on that equipment staying de-energized. That person may have their hands inside the machine, their body positioned under a suspended load, or they may be working on electrical components that would kill them instantly if power were restored. Your impatience or production concerns don’t override someone else’s right to go home alive.

What You Should Do When You Encounter Lockout Tagout

When you arrive for your shift or attempt to operate equipment that’s been locked and tagged out, follow these specific steps:

Step 1: Recognize the lockout. Look for padlocks on energy isolation devices, tags attached to controls, and chains or blocking devices on valves or switches. These devices should be highly visible, typically red or bright yellow, and clearly indicate that the equipment is not to be operated.

Step 2: Read the tag information. Tags contain critical information including who applied the lock, when it was applied, why the equipment is locked out, and potentially when work is expected to be complete. Reading this information helps you understand the situation and plan accordingly.

Step 3: Do not touch the lockout devices. Never remove, bypass, ignore, or tamper with locks or tags. This includes attempting to force switches or controls that have been locked in the “off” position. Even if you have a key that fits the lock, using it is strictly prohibited.

Step 4: Leave the area and find alternative work. Report to your supervisor that the equipment you were assigned to operate is locked out. Your supervisor will reassign you to other tasks or equipment. Document in your production logs or work orders that equipment was unavailable due to lockout tagout procedures.

Step 5: Maintain awareness throughout your shift. If you work near locked-out equipment, stay alert to the fact that maintenance is occurring. Don’t lean on equipment, place materials against it, or operate adjacent equipment in ways that might create hazards for maintenance personnel.

Special Situations You Might Encounter

Multiple locks on one device: You may see several padlocks attached to a single disconnect switch or control panel. This indicates multiple authorized employees are working on different aspects of the same equipment. The equipment cannot be restarted until every single lock is removed by the person who applied it. Never assume work is complete just because you see fewer locks than before.

Group lockout procedures: In some situations, particularly during major overhauls or facility-wide maintenance, you might encounter group lockout boxes or departmental lockout systems. These complex lockouts still carry the same message for affected employees: stay away from the equipment until all lockout devices are removed.

Your personal lock: In some facilities, affected employees who normally operate the equipment may be required to place their own personal lock on the energy isolation device when they leave equipment for authorized employees to service. If your facility uses this procedure, you’ve received specific training on when and how to apply your lock. This makes you a participant in the lockout process, but your primary duty remains unchanged: never attempt to operate locked-out equipment.

What Happens When Lockout Is Removed

When maintenance work is complete, authorized employees follow specific procedures to remove their locks and tags. Before equipment is restarted, several things should happen:

The authorized employee verifies that all tools are removed, guards are replaced, and the equipment is safe to operate. They ensure all affected employees have been notified that servicing is complete and lockout devices are being removed. The area is checked to confirm everyone is in the clear.

As an affected employee, you should never restart equipment immediately after lockout removal unless you’ve been specifically instructed to do so and have verified that:

• All lockout devices have been removed
• All maintenance personnel have cleared the area
• All guards, safety devices, and machine components are properly reinstalled
• You’ve received authorization from your supervisor or the authorized employee who performed the work

Perform your standard pre-operational checks before running equipment. Just because maintenance is complete doesn’t mean everything is ready for operation.

Why This Matters in Scrap Metal Operations

Scrap metal facilities present unique lockout tagout challenges. Equipment is often old, hydraulic systems maintain pressure even when pumps are off, conveyor systems stretch across multiple zones, and mobile equipment like cranes can be energized from multiple sources. A baler that suddenly cycles while someone is clearing a jam can generate forces exceeding 2,000 tons. A conveyor that starts unexpectedly can pull a maintenance worker into crushing pinch points in seconds.

Your role as an affected employee provides a critical safety check in the system. When you refuse to operate locked-out equipment—even under pressure, even when it seems convenient to bypass the system—you’re honoring the trust that authorized employees place in the lockout tagout program. They’re trusting you with their lives.

The Bottom Line for Affected Employees

Your job as an affected employee is straightforward: recognize lockout tagout, respect it absolutely, never attempt to operate locked-out equipment, and report to your supervisor for alternative assignments. You are not responsible for performing lockouts, but you are responsible for never defeating them.

This isn’t about being inconvenienced or losing production time. This is about ensuring that every maintenance worker who locks out equipment trusts that lock completely—trusts it enough to put their hands inside dangerous machinery, knowing the equipment won’t start because you and every other affected employee understands and follows these essential rules.

That trust, properly placed, saves lives every single day.