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Home›Courses›Safety Training›Six Steps to Lockout/Tagout (Micro)

Six Steps to Lockout/Tagout (Micro)

10 minutesEN / ES / MLCCSafety Training29 CFR 1910.147 - Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)
Quick Answer

Six Steps to Lockout/Tagout is a 10-minute online micro course that walks employees through the six essential steps of a lockout/tagout procedure - preparation, shutdown, isolation, lockout/tagout, stored energy check, and isolation verification - as required by OSHA under 29 CFR 1910.147. It is designed as a refresher for authorized and affected employees, and includes a downloadable certificate of completion.

Course Overview

Lockout/tagout (LOTO) violations ranked 4th on OSHA's FY 2025 Top 10 most-cited list with 2,177 citations. The Control of Hazardous Energy standard, 29 CFR 1910.147, exists because contact with uncontrolled energy during service and maintenance kills an estimated 120 workers and injures 50,000 more each year. LOTO citations surged 29% between FY 2022 and FY 2023, and OSHA penalties for serious violations can reach $16,550 per instance, with willful violations reaching $165,514. For employers, a single fatality involving a LOTO failure can trigger six-figure penalties and criminal referral.

This micro course gives your employees a focused refresher on the six-step lockout/tagout procedure. It walks through each step in sequence - preparation, shutdown, isolation, lockout/tagout application, stored energy check, and isolation verification - with clear explanations of what each step requires and why it matters. This is a concise format ideal for annual refresher training or as a supplement to your full-length LOTO training program.

What You'll Learn

  • Step 1: Preparation - investigating and understanding all types of hazardous energy that must be controlled
  • Step 2: Shutdown - properly powering down machines and notifying all affected employees
  • Step 3: Isolation - disconnecting the machine from all energy sources including electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic
  • Step 4: Lockout/Tagout - applying locks and tags to energy-isolating devices to prevent re-energization
  • Step 5: Stored Energy Check - identifying and releasing any residual or stored hazardous energy
  • Step 6: Isolation Verification - confirming the machine is fully de-energized before beginning service work

Who Needs This Training

  • Authorized employees who perform lockout/tagout procedures during service and maintenance work
  • Affected employees who work in areas where energy control procedures are used
  • Maintenance technicians and mechanics who service powered equipment and machinery
  • Supervisors who must verify that LOTO procedures are followed correctly before clearing work
  • New employees who need a quick introduction to LOTO concepts before full training
  • Any worker who needs an annual LOTO procedure refresher

Regulatory Background

OSHA's Control of Hazardous Energy standard, 29 CFR 1910.147, requires employers to establish energy control procedures, provide locks and tags, and train all authorized and affected employees. The standard ranked 4th on OSHA's FY 2025 Top 10 most-cited list with 2,177 violations. OSHA requires that energy control procedures be inspected at least annually to ensure they remain effective, and that authorized employees be retrained whenever there is a change in job assignments, machines, or energy control procedures. Manufacturing industries are disproportionately affected by LOTO violations, with food manufacturing, fabricated metal products, and plastics and rubber products leading in citation numbers. Serious violations carry penalties of up to $16,550, while willful or repeated violations can reach $165,514 per instance. Failure to abate a cited LOTO hazard can add $16,550 per day in additional penalties.

Frequently Asked Questions

This 10-minute course is designed as a refresher or supplement to a comprehensive LOTO training program. OSHA's 29 CFR 1910.147 requires that authorized employees receive training on the recognition of applicable hazardous energy sources, the type and magnitude of energy, and the methods and means necessary for energy isolation and control. Employers should use this micro course alongside their full-length LOTO training and hands-on procedural demonstrations.
OSHA does not specify a fixed retraining interval for lockout/tagout. However, retraining is required whenever there is a change in job assignments, a change in machines, equipment, or processes that present a new hazard, or when a periodic inspection reveals inadequacies in an employee's knowledge of the energy control procedure. Many employers conduct annual refresher training as a best practice to maintain compliance.
Authorized employees are those who lock out or tag out machines for service or maintenance. They must receive full training on the energy control procedures for each machine they service. Affected employees are those whose job requires them to operate or work in an area where energy control procedures are used, but who do not perform the lockout themselves. Affected employees must be trained on the purpose and use of energy control procedures and instructed never to attempt to restart or re-energize a locked-out machine.
Stored or residual energy includes any hazardous energy that remains in a machine after it has been isolated from its primary energy source. Examples include capacitors that retain electrical charge, springs under tension, elevated machine components that could fall due to gravity, pressurized hydraulic or pneumatic lines, and thermal energy in heated components. Step 5 of the LOTO procedure requires all stored energy to be relieved, disconnected, restrained, or otherwise made non-hazardous before work begins.
Serious LOTO violations carry penalties of up to $16,550 per violation as of 2025. Willful or repeated violations can reach $165,514 per instance. LOTO violations ranked 4th on OSHA's FY 2025 most-cited list with 2,177 violations, and the manufacturing sector saw a 29% surge in LOTO citations between FY 2022 and FY 2023. A single fatality linked to a LOTO failure can trigger multiple citations, six-figure penalties, and potential criminal referral.

Related Courses

This micro course pairs naturally with the full-length Lockout Tagout: Secure Safely course, which provides the comprehensive training OSHA requires for authorized employees. Employers in manufacturing and industrial settings often combine LOTO training with Machine Guarding: Safe Work Practices since both standards address hazards from powered equipment and frequently appear together in OSHA citations. The General Industry Safety bundle includes both full-length lockout/tagout and machine guarding training.

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$24.95
per person
Volume Pricing
Team Size Price per Person
1 - 9$24.95
10 - 24$19.95
25 - 49$17.95
50 - 99$17.50
Subtotal $24.95
Language

This course is available in English, Spanish, and Multi-Language CC at no additional charge.

Certificate of completion included. Downloadable upon passing the final assessment.

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$24.95
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