NEW YORK, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of U.S. workers died over the past decade in mishaps that a regulation known as "lockout/tagout" is supposed to prevent, reported The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
"The concept is simple: before an industrial machine can be serviced, an employee must shut it down and place a lock over its power source," said the report. "If that isn't possible, the employee should place a tag telling co-workers to leave the machine off."
Lockouts are designed to prevent employees from being hurt by machines that start unexpectedly. Every year, an average of 85 people are killed and 364 suffer amputations, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
"Among manufacturers, violations related to the lockout standard are the most common safety citations issued by OSHA inspectors," said the report. An agency spokesman said the incidents usually happen because employers fail to implement adequate safety measures.
Human nature is also a factor, said Richard Fairfax, a former OSHA enforcement director who is now principal consultant for the nonprofit National Safety Council. "They take shortcuts, figure it's too much trouble to lock it out, or they get pressure from supervisors or foremen to keep productivity moving." ■
