Lockout/Tagout Checklist

Educational workplace-safety awareness — connected to industries, occupations, employment law, employment documents and company types. Informational only — not legal advice and not a substitute for mandatory workplace safety training; employers remain responsible for compliance, training and worker authorization.

What this checklist is for

A lockout/tagout checklist gives a consistent reminder of the basic principles for controlling hazardous energy — identifying every energy source, isolating it, locking and tagging it so it cannot be re-energised, releasing stored energy and verifying that the machine is truly dead before work begins. It is a free educational starting point you can adapt.

It does not replace the employer’s energy-isolation procedure for each specific machine, the equipment needed to lock off safely, or the training that makes someone competent to do this work. Controlling hazardous energy can be life-critical. Employers remain responsible for the safe system of work, equipment, training and authorisation, following the applicable law and the official authority’s guidance.

What a good version covers

• Identifying all energy sources — electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, thermal, stored.
• Shutting down the machine using the correct procedure.
• Isolating each energy source at the right point.
• Applying locks and tags so isolation cannot be removed by others.
• Releasing or restraining any stored or residual energy.
• Verifying isolation by trying to start, or testing, before work begins.
• A controlled sequence for removing locks and restarting safely.
• Who applied the locks and that only they remove them.

How to use and adapt it

• Base it on the machine-specific isolation procedure, not a generic list.
• Use only by people trained and authorised to isolate that equipment.
• Make sure every person at risk applies their own lock where required.
• Verify the machine is dead before any part of the body enters the danger zone.
• Follow a controlled, checked sequence when restoring energy.
• Defer specific isolation methods and competence requirements to your safe system of work and the official authority.

Common mistakes

• Isolating only one energy source and missing stored or secondary energy.
• Skipping the verification step before starting work.
• Letting someone other than the person who locked off remove the lock.
• Using the checklist without the employer’s machine-specific procedure.
• Allowing untrained people to isolate or maintain equipment.

Preparing and sharing it

You can export, edit and complete this checklist and save or share it as a PDF, so isolation steps are recorded consistently alongside the employer’s safe system of work.

Where a completed record needs a signature or needs to reach a supervisor or engineer, it can be sent securely as a PDF. The checklist supports awareness and recordkeeping; it does not replace the employer’s energy-isolation procedure or the training required to do this work safely.