Safety Awakening – How To Make A Machine “Invisible” To Safety Inspectors
February 13, 2015 No CommentsHow To Make A Machine “Invisible” To Safety Inspectors
OSHA suggests that if you find a dangerous or defective piece of equipment or machinery an acceptable method of addressing it is to either place either a “Do Not Use” or an Out Of Service” tag on it.
Placing an Out Of Service tag on a piece of equipment will usually make that piece of equipment “invisible” to not only OSHA inspectors, but to all outside safety inspectors (e.g. insurance company, municipal, etc.).
Without such a tag, an OSHA inspector would likely cite the employer for the OSHA violation if the inspector can prove that the machine/tool/equipment was used by an employee within the last six months.
We recommend, that when making facility safety inspections, inspectors carry along a few Out Of Service tags. These tags should be immediately affixed to any dangerous equipment that is identified. The use of tagged equipment should be prohibited until it can be either destroyed or repaired.
Awakenings