What's On the Horizon for OSHA'S LOCKOUT STANDARD?

摘要

The OSHA Lockout Standard, 29 C.F.R. § 1910.147, is OSHA's fourth-most cited standard. The standard, which was adopted in 1989, has not kept up with technological developments, however. It was based largely on a consensus standard adopted in 1982, which in turn reflected the technology of the mid-1970s. The standard also has provisions, such as the minor servicing exception and the ban on control circuitry, that make no sense today, and likely never made sense. In May 2019, OSHA published in the Federal Register a "request for information" on how the standard might be improved. That development and others described below show that changes lie on the horizon. To understand them fully, however, one must know the case law that has developed involving the standard.