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A lockout tagout program is the documented system that controls hazardous energy while equipment is being serviced. Bowtie Engineering builds these programs to OSHA 29 CFR 1910.147 — written procedures for every serviceable asset, annual third-party inspections, and all of it hosted in BowVue.
Lockout tagout is one of OSHA’s most-cited standards year after year — and the violations are rarely about missing locks. They’re about paperwork that doesn’t exist, procedures written for equipment that was replaced three years ago, and annual inspections nobody documented.
29 CFR 1910.147 requires more than a policy binder. It requires a written energy control program, a machine-specific procedure for every piece of equipment that gets serviced or maintained, authorized-employee training, and a documented annual inspection of the program by someone other than the person using it.
Most facilities have the first item and are exposed on the other three.
Bowtie Engineering builds the full energy control program — written, machine-specific, audited, and hosted in BowVue™ so it stays current instead of going stale in a filing cabinet.
Your program document, built to 1910.147(c)(4) and aligned with NFPA 70E where electrical energy is involved. Includes:
The requirement most facilities miss. We walk your floor, inventory every serviceable asset, and write a documented procedure per machine covering:
Procedures are delivered as laminated point-of-use documents and loaded into BowVue for digital access from the floor.
1910.147(c)(6) requires a periodic inspection at least annually, performed by an authorized employee not using the procedure being inspected, with the inspection certified in writing. Bowtie performs this as a third party:
LOTO training is delivered as part of Bowtie’s 8-hour onsite NFPA 70E electrical safety training, covering hazardous energy recognition, procedure application, zero-energy verification, and the limits of an authorized employee’s role. Where a facility needs LOTO training separated out — for maintenance teams outside the electrical scope, or for a refresh cycle that doesn’t align with 70E recertification — we build a standalone session against your written procedures. Either way, training is tied to your actual equipment and your actual procedures, and every attendance record lands in BowVue.
A LOTO program is only compliant on the day it’s accurate. Every procedure Bowtie writes is hosted in BowVue™, our secure cloud platform, so your program stays live:
When equipment changes, we update the procedure and it’s current everywhere at once.
Bowtie builds LOTO programs for manufacturing and industrial plants, data centers, and multi-site national accounts across the United States. Multi-site clients get standardized procedure formatting and a single BowVue instance across all locations — so corporate EHS sees the same program, the same way, at every site.
Bowtie has built and audited energy control programs at several hundred sites across a national footprint. A typical machine-specific procedure set — floor inventory through delivered, laminated, BowVue-loaded procedures — runs a few weeks from kickoff, depending on asset count and site access.
A lockout tagout program is the written system a facility uses to control hazardous energy during servicing and maintenance. Under OSHA 29 CFR 1910.147 it must include a written energy control program, machine-specific procedures, authorized employee training, and a documented annual inspection.
Yes, with a narrow exception. 1910.147(c)(4)(i) requires documented procedures for each machine unless all eight conditions of the limited exception are met — including a single energy source that is readily identified and isolated. Most industrial equipment does not qualify.
At least annually. The inspection must be performed by an authorized employee who is not using the procedure being inspected, and must be certified in writing identifying the equipment, the date, the employees involved, and the inspector.
Lockout physically prevents an energy-isolating device from being operated using a lock. Tagout uses a warning tag only. OSHA requires lockout where the device is capable of accepting a lock; tagout-only programs must demonstrate equivalent protection and meet additional training requirements.
A typical machine-specific procedure set takes a few weeks from kickoff to delivered procedures, depending on how many serviceable assets are in scope and how quickly our team can get floor access. Written program development and the annual inspection run on shorter cycles.
Tell us how many sites you run and roughly how many serviceable assets are in scope. We’ll scope the program, give you a fixed quote, and show you exactly where your current documentation falls short of 1910.147.