Emphasize Lockout and tagout as “intrinsically safe design”

For a long time, “Intrinsically Safe Design” has been regarded as the highest level of risk control. Its core is to fundamentally eliminate or reduce dangers through technical means, such as adopting low voltage, explosion-proof structures or eliminating sharp components. “Lockout and tagout” are usually classified as “administrative management measures”, relying on personnel training and strict enforcement, and are regarded as a relatively “passive” form of protection.

However, with the proliferation of complex equipment and high-energy operation scenarios, security experts on the forum have put forward disruptive viewpoints: When energy hazards cannot be completely eliminated through initial design, pre-setting standardized, error-proof and easy-to-use energy isolation points (such as locking points, isolation valves) for the equipment and integrating rigorous LOTO procedures into the equipment operation and maintenance manual is itself a continuation and ultimate guarantee of “safety design”. It is not an independent option but a preset and necessary “security interface” in the device’s security lifecycle.

“Intrinsic safety design does not end once the drawings are completed,” emphasized Dr. Michael Lawson, an internationally renowned safety expert and the keynote speaker of this forum. “True safety design must answer one question: How to ensure that personnel can safely access the interior of the equipment when maintenance, repair or cleaning is required?” An ergonomic, logically clear and mandatory Lockout and tagout system is the answer to this question. It is the “last hard line of defense” preset by the designer to protect the lives of future operators.

This concept has received responses from many leading manufacturing enterprises. For instance, in the automotive and chemical industries, some enterprises have begun to explicitly require suppliers to provide physical lock points that meet specific standards, clear energy source identification, and customized LOTO program diagrams in new equipment purchase contracts, and make these mandatory terms for equipment acceptance.

Industry practice Shift: From “Program Requirements” to “Design Features”

The implementation of this concept is driving a transformation in specific practices:

Design in advance: Safety engineers and equipment designers work together from the concept stage to plan energy isolation solutions.

Hardware integration: The accessibility and convenience of locks, sign storage points, and isolation devices have become considerations in equipment design.

Intelligent integration: The new generation of equipment integrates electronic interlocking with physical locking and listing procedures. Only when the correct LOTO steps are executed will the control system be allowed to enter the maintenance mode.