OSHA 1910.147
Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)
OSHA 1910.147 is a standard issued by Occupational Safety and Health Administration covering energy isolation procedures and the durable tags applied during lockout.
Read it at Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Affixure supplies artifacts and hosts records. We do not interpret this standard on your behalf and we do not certify compliance with it. The link above goes to the issuing authority so you can read the text yourself.
Who enforces this, and how it reaches you
Enforced by OSHA and consistently in the top ten most cited standards. The citation usually concerns the written programme and employee training rather than the tags themselves, but the tags are the visible evidence that the programme exists.
How this differs from the neighbouring standards
Lockout tagout tags are applied and removed per energy isolation event, not on a calendar. Volume tracks maintenance activity rather than headcount.
What you have to be able to show
Lockout and tagout has a documentation profile unlike anything else on this site. Three separate things have to be demonstrable: that written energy control procedures exist for the equipment, that authorised employees have been trained, and that the procedures are inspected periodically to confirm they are still being followed correctly. The devices themselves also carry requirements - they must be durable, standardised, identify the employee who applied them, and be substantial enough not to be removed casually. The periodic inspection is the piece most often missing in practice, because it is an audit of the procedure rather than an act of maintenance and nothing physically prompts it.
What the record adds that the tag cannot
The periodic inspection is a review with no natural trigger. Nothing breaks, no tag expires, and no equipment stops working if it does not happen, which is precisely why it lapses. Attaching the procedure to the equipment by serial gives it a physical anchor: the machine points at the procedure that governs it and at when that procedure was last reviewed. That also solves the quieter problem, which is procedure drift. A machine is modified, an energy source is added, and the written procedure still describes the previous configuration. A record showing when the procedure was last reviewed against the equipment as it now exists is the only thing that surfaces that gap before an incident does.
The mechanics are the same for every standard, and they are set out on how inspection records work.
Why this is a different purchase from ordering the same item printed
Lockout tags are sold as durable printed stock and that is a genuine requirement, not a marketing claim - the standard is explicit that devices must withstand the environment and identify who applied them. We meet that specification. What we add is that the equipment also points at its own energy control procedure and the date it was last reviewed, so the tag on the lock and the document governing the isolation are connected rather than filed in different places by different people.
Choosing a substrate for this environment
The standard is explicit that lockout devices must be durable enough for the environment and must not deteriorate or become illegible where they are used, which makes this the one place on this site where substrate is close to a stated requirement rather than an engineering preference. Devices used with corrosives or in wet locations need materials that will not degrade. Tags must also be substantial enough that they cannot be removed accidentally, which is a mechanical property rather than a printing one: the attachment has to resist a deliberate pull, not merely stay put.
Substrate and rating are stated on every product page. If you are not sure, compare the options or order the hundred unit minimum and see how it survives before committing a fleet to it.
Equipment this applies to
Consumables used under this standard
| Product | Substrate | From |
|---|---|---|
| Arc flash warning label, polyester | Polyester, UL recognised | $2.27 |
| Panel nameplate, three ply phenolic | Phenolic (three ply) | $2.75 |
| Lockout tagout tag, write on | Heavy vinyl, reinforced eyelet | $0.70 |
Questions people ask about OSHA 1910.147
Does the record replace our written energy control procedures?
No. The written procedures are yours to author and maintain, and they are specific to your equipment and your operation. What the record does is bind the equipment to the procedure that governs it and hold the periodic inspection history, so the machine points at its own documentation rather than at a binder somebody has to locate.
Why is the periodic inspection the part that lapses?
Because nothing physically prompts it. Maintenance is triggered by equipment, training is triggered by hiring, but a periodic review of whether a procedure is still being followed correctly has no natural trigger and produces no visible change if skipped. Anchoring it to the equipment record makes the elapsed time visible from the machine rather than only in an audit.
Do the tags identify the employee who applied them?
The tags are imprinted to your specification and the standard requires devices to identify the employee applying them. Where the record adds something is in the isolation history: which procedure governed the work and when it was last reviewed, which is context the tag on the lock has no room to carry.