Electrical Safety & Lock Out/Tag Out

Basic Electrical Safety

  • Electrical devices must be properly grounded: 3-prong or double insulated.
  • Electrical devices must be UL approved or similar approval.
  • If working near water, use designated GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupted) outlets.
  • Remove any damaged device from service immediately.
  • Never use “cheaters” (convert 3-prong to 2-prong plugs).
  • Disconnect any electrical/medical device that:
    • Throws sparks
    • Blows a fuse
    • Gives even the slightest shock
  • Notify your supervisor and others in the immediate area.
  • Call the Control Center: MED: 617 -638-4144(MED)/CRC: 617-353-2105 or your vendor for repairs.
  • Check cords/devices for frayed or bare wires, or other defects prior to use.
  • Avoid using extension cords.
  • Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for use and maintenance.
  • Never operate clinical equipment without proper training.
  • Attach tag/note: “Do Not Use”, or a Broken Equipment Tag for BMC patient care equipment.
  • Incidents involving patient equipment must be reported through the STARS Incident Reporting System on the BMC Intranet.

Lock Out/Tag Out

The Hazardous Energy Control Program establishes the minimum requirements for the Lockout and Tagout (LOTO) of energy-isolating devices to prevent an undesirable release of hazardous energy during any servicing, maintenance, or modification activity. LOTO will be used to ensure that the affected equipment or system is isolated from all potential hazardous energy and is locked/tagged out before authorized employees perform any maintenance activities where the unexpected startup or release of stored energy could cause a serious personal injury or a fatality.

The written Energy Control Program provides personnel with procedures for isolating equipment during servicing or maintenance. Personnel are trained in accordance with their classification under the program. Periodic reviews of the written LOTO procedures are performed to identify any changes that must be made to the procedures and to verify personnel are correctly performing LOTO procedures.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has established employee classifications within the control of hazardous energy (Lockout/Tagout) standard, 29 CFR 1910.147. Depending on their role, personnel are provided training so they can perform their duties under the Program. The classifications of employees are Authorized, Affected, and other.

Affected Employee
An employee whose job requires him/her to operate or use a machine or equipment on which servicing or maintenance is being performed under lockout or tagout, or whose job requires him/her to work in an area in which such servicing or maintenance is being performed.

Authorized Employee
An ‘authorized employee’ is defined as a person who locks out or tags out machines or equipment in order to perform servicing or maintenance on that machine or equipment. An affected employee becomes an authorized employee when that employee’s duties include performing servicing or maintenance covered under this section.

Departmental Procedures
Environmental Health and Safety works closely with affected departments to develop equipment specific procedures. EHS and those departments maintains those procedures for departmental use.

Other Employee
Other employees are those whose work operations are or may be in an area where energy control procedures may be utilized.