Lockout tagout procedure builder

Draft a lockout tagout (energy isolation) procedure for one item of plant: its energy sources, isolation points, the steps to isolate and check, and how to return it to service.

Figures checked 5 November 2026. Free to use, no sign-in.

Plant

Victoria and Western Australia have their own Acts; the tool switches to them.

Energy and isolation points

Energy sources on this plant

Adds the electrical isolation and testing rules for your jurisdiction.

Steps

Lockout tagout procedure

Check before you use it

  • Walk the plant with the people who maintain it to confirm every energy source and isolation point is listed.
  • Provide personal locks and danger tags, and train everyone who isolates the plant.
  • Consult the workers who will be affected, and their health and safety representatives if you have them (s 47 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW)).
  • Replace every [bracketed] item and delete defaults that don’t fit your workplace.
  • Check the current law and guidance from SafeWork NSW before relying on the document.
Business (PCBU)[Business name]
Plant[Plant name]
Plant ID or asset number[Asset number]
Location[Location]
Procedure owner[Name and position]
Date[Date]
JurisdictionNew South Wales

Isolating the hazard is one of the controls required where a risk can’t be eliminated (s 36(3)(b) of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW)), plant risks must be managed by whoever manages or controls the plant (s 203 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW)), and operator’s controls must be able to be locked in the “off” position to disconnect all motive power (s 210(1)(d) of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW)). This is a draft prepared from the details entered. It does not by itself show that your obligations are met: check it against your workplace, consult the people who will use it, and update it when things change.

1. When this procedure applies

Before any maintenance, cleaning, repair, clearing of a blockage or adjustment that puts a person inside a guard or in a danger area of the [plant]. If the plant has to run during the work, use only controls that the person doing the work (or an authorised person) can operate (s 210(2) of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW)).

2. Energy sources

  • Electrical
  • Mechanical or gravity (moving or raised parts)

3. Isolation points

  • [Each isolation point: what it is, where it is and how it is locked]

4. Isolation steps

  1. Tell everyone affected that the plant is being shut down and isolated.
  2. Stop the plant with its normal controls.
  3. Isolate every energy source at the isolation points listed in this procedure.
  4. Each person working on the plant fits their own personal lock and danger tag to each isolation point (or to a group lockbox).
  5. Release or restrain stored energy.
  6. Check the isolation works: with everyone clear, try to start the plant at its normal controls, then return the controls to off.
  7. Do the work.

Releasing stored energy:

  • Electrical: switch off and lock the isolator; discharge capacitors; a competent person tests for dead
  • Mechanical: let moving parts come to rest; block or pin raised parts

5. Returning the plant to service

  1. Remove tools and materials, and refit all guards and safety devices.
  2. Check everyone is clear of the plant.
  3. Each person removes only their own lock and tag.
  4. Restore energy in a controlled order and test-run the plant.
  5. Tell everyone affected that the plant is back in service.

6. Who may isolate this plant

  • [Names or roles of people trained and authorised to isolate this plant]

Maintenance, inspection and testing are done by a competent person (s 213 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW)). A lock is removed only by the person who fitted it. If that person can’t be found, follow a documented lock-removal process approved by a supervisor after checking the person is not on or near the plant.

Sign-off

Prepared byName ____________ Signature ____________ Date ________
Approved byName ____________ Signature ____________ Date ________

Draft prepared with a free tool. Tailor it before use. General information, not legal advice.

Highlighted text in [brackets] still needs your input. Nothing you type is saved or sent. General information, not legal advice.

How this works

Tick the energy sources on the plant and list its isolation points. The procedure lists them, adds a step for releasing each kind of stored energy, and sets out isolation, the try-start check and restoration as editable numbered steps.

Citations change with your jurisdiction: r 36, r 203 and r 210 of the WHS Regulations (the same numbers in Western Australia), or r 98 and r 101 of Victoria’s OHS Regulations 2017. If the work includes electrical work, the document adds the electrical rule that applies where you are.

Not included: the plant risk assessment, group isolation and permit systems for large sites, and electrical licensing requirements.

Legal basis

Checked against these sources on 5 November 2026. Spotted a figure that looks wrong? Tell us.

Questions

Is lockout tagout a legal requirement?

The WHS Regulations don’t use the words “lockout tagout”, but they require plant risks to be managed (r 203), isolation where a risk can’t be eliminated (r 36), and operator’s controls that can be locked in the “off” position to disconnect all motive power (r 210). Victoria’s OHS Regulations 2017 have matching rules in r 98 and r 101. A written isolation procedure is the usual way to show how you meet them.

Is a danger tag on its own enough?

A tag warns people but doesn’t stop the plant being started. Isolation should physically prevent energy being restored, which is why each person fits their own lock, and the tag identifies who has isolated the plant and why.

What about electrical work?

Under the model WHS Regulations electrical equipment must be tested by a competent person before work, exposed parts are treated as energised until isolated and found not to be (r 155), and de-energised equipment must not be re-energised by mistake (r 156). Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria handle electrical work differently, and the tool switches the wording for each.

Is anything I type saved?

No. The draft exists only in your browser tab. Copy it, download it as text, or print it before you close the page.

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