Lockout/Tagout — Electrical Systems
Construction and general industry · Ver en español
Talking points
- Before any electrical work, the circuit must be de-energized at the source, locked with a personal lock, and tagged with your name and date.
- After locking out, use a voltage tester to verify zero energy at the point of work. Test the tester on a known live source first to confirm it is functioning.
- Stored energy — in capacitors, batteries, or UPS systems — must be discharged or isolated before work begins. Locking out the breaker alone may not be enough.
- If multiple workers are involved, each person applies their own lock to the lockout device. The last person to finish removes the last lock.
- Only the person who applied a lock may remove it. If that person is unavailable, your company's specific emergency lock-removal procedure must be followed — never cut someone else's lock.
Ask the crew
What types of stored energy might still be present in a circuit after you've turned off the breaker?
Standards this talk is built on
A toolbox talk is a short safety briefing. It supports the training a standard requires; it does not replace it.
Run this talk with your crew and keep the record
In Jobsite, workers sign in on their phones in English or Spanish, and you keep who attended, when, and where, with every other talk your crew has had.
Using an AI assistant? Jobsite's free MCP server serves this library, with OSHA rule text, no sign-in: https://jobsitecerts.com/api/mcp/public (/mcp)
Sign-in sheet
Print this page to collect signatures, or run the talk in Jobsite and workers sign in on their phones.
| Name | Signature | Date |
|---|---|---|
© Jobsite. Free to read aloud, print and use in your own crew's safety meetings. Republishing, reselling or bulk-copying these talks is not permitted.