SWP - Lockout and Shop Safety

Any servicing, maintenance, cleaning, adjustment, repair, inspection or clearing of a jam on a machine or system that can release energy, in a station, shop or training ground, and the shop work around it. Systems include apparatus air brakes and air systems, hydraulics (aerials, outriggers, tilt cabs, lifts), power take-offs and fire pumps, electric and hybrid apparatus high-voltage systems, bay doors, compressors and breathing air fill systems, generators and transfer switches, exhaust fans, vehicle lifts, shop machines, gear extractors and dryers, and HVAC. It applies to members, fleet technicians and contractors working on department equipment. Lockout of machinery and utilities at emergency scenes is in the operations procedures, not here. Basis: the applicable lockout, guarding and electrical rules (J19 Lockout, Machine Guarding and Electrical Safety); the lockout standard (CSA Z460:20); the machine safeguarding standard (CSA Z432:23); the workplace electrical safety standard (CSA Z462:24); Facilities and Station Safety Program sections 5.6 to 5.8. (S1)

• Unexpected start-up, or release of stored energy: compressed air, hydraulic pressure and accumulators, springs, a raised aerial, outrigger, tilt cab or dump body, gravity.
• Electric shock and arc flash; high voltage that stays in an electric or hybrid apparatus after the key is off.
• Crushing under a lift, a jack or a raised cab; a vehicle rolling while someone is under it.
• Explosive separation of split-rim and multi-piece wheels during inflation.
• Abrasive wheel burst; flying particles; blade contact; entanglement in unguarded shafts and belts.
• Falls into pits; fumes and carbon monoxide collecting in pits.
• Fire from hot work, fuel vapour and oily rags; battery explosion and acid.
• Compressed air driven into skin or eyes.
• Noise; solvents and other chemicals.
• The job that “only takes a minute”, done without a lock because the truck is needed back in service.

The PPE above; the equipment’s lockout procedure (Facilities and Station Safety Program toolkit T5); a personal lock with one key for each authorized person, danger tags, hasps and a group lockout box; valve and breaker lockout devices; a voltage tester (and a known source to prove it) for qualified persons; wheel chocks, cab props and rated jack stands; the tire cage and a clip-on chuck; a hot work permit book and an extinguisher; a spill kit; the monthly shop checklist (Facilities and Station Safety Program toolkit T3).

A defect is fixed before the equipment is used, or the equipment is tagged out and reported on Form - Hazard Report.

1. Prepare. Find the written procedure for the equipment. If there is none, stop: the program manager authorizes a procedure before the work starts. Identify every energy source (electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, mechanical, gravity, thermal, chemical, stored, high voltage) and every isolation point.
2. Notify. Tell the officer, the crew and anyone working nearby. For apparatus, the unit is placed out of service with dispatch before work begins. Post a sign on the unit or machine.
3. Shut down by the normal stop.
4. Isolate each energy source at its isolation point: disconnect or breaker, valve, battery disconnect, and for electric or hybrid apparatus the manufacturer’s high-voltage disconnect.
5. Lock and tag. Each authorized person puts a personal lock and tag on each isolation point, or on the group lockout box, and keeps the key.
6. Release or restrain stored energy: bleed air tanks, relieve hydraulic pressure, lower or block raised components, prop tilt cabs with the manufacturer’s prop, chock wheels, wait the manufacturer’s time for high-voltage capacitors to discharge, let hot parts cool.
7. Verify zero energy. Try to start it, then return the controls to off; read the gauges; a qualified person tests electrical circuits with a tester proved before and after. The competent person confirms.
8. Do the work.
9. Restore. Tools and materials out; guards back on; everyone clear and told; each person removes only their own lock; controls in a safe position; re-energize and test; return the unit to service with dispatch; record the job.

10. Several workers: one group lock on each isolation point, the key in the group box, and every worker’s personal lock on the box.
11. Shift change: the oncoming worker puts on a lock before the offgoing worker takes theirs off, so the equipment is never unprotected.
12. Contractors bring their own locks and follow this procedure; the department’s authorized person coordinates the isolation points (Form - Contractor Orientation Checklist).

13. Only when the lock owner has left the site and cannot be reached: the supervisor documents the attempts to reach the owner, confirms the equipment is safe and everyone is clear, removes the lock with a second person present, records it in the lock register, and tells the owner before the owner returns to work.

14. Some tasks need the system live (a pump test, an aerial adjustment, an engine diagnostic). They proceed only under a written alternative procedure approved by a competent person: controls under the worker’s direct control, guards or barriers kept in place, a second person at the emergency stop, and the minimum exposure the task allows.

15. Only technicians trained by the manufacturer for that model work on high-voltage systems, using the manufacturer’s isolation, wait time and insulated tools; the design standard requires high-voltage warnings on these vehicles (NFPA 1900, 2024).
16. Members do not work on energized electrical equipment. Licensed contractors who must do so work under an energized work permit with an arc flash risk assessment (CSA Z462:24).

17. Lifts and stands: check the rated capacity against the axle weight; the lift’s locks engaged before anyone goes under; never work under a load held only by a jack.
18. Tires: split-rim and multi-piece wheels are inflated only in a cage, with a clip-on chuck and an in-line gauge, standing out of the wheel’s trajectory; damaged rim parts are scrapped.
19. Pits: cover on when not in use; ventilation running when someone is in the pit; no engine running over an occupied pit.
20. Grinders and saws: guards and tool rest set; face shield over safety glasses; stand aside when starting; chainsaws only with a working chain brake.
21. Compressed air: never on skin or clothing; reduced-pressure nozzles for cleaning parts.
22. Hot work: a permit for every job outside a designated welding area; combustibles moved or covered; an extinguisher at hand; a fire watch for the period the permit sets; never near fuel tanks, cylinders or the fill station.
23. Chemicals and batteries: labels and safety data sheets; flammables in the cabinet; batteries charged in a ventilated area with an eyewash nearby; oily rags in a closed metal container.

• Caught in or crushed: hit the emergency stop; do not re-energize to free the person unless a qualified person says it is the only way; call EMS; first aid; preserve the scene.
• Electric shock: do not touch the person until the source is isolated; call EMS; start CPR and use the defibrillator if needed.
• Arc flash or burn: cool the burn with water; EMS; isolate the equipment.
• Tire or rim separation, wheel burst, fire, chemical splash: first aid (eyewash for 15 minutes for splashes), EMS, extinguisher only if safe, evacuate the shop if the fire grows.
• Every one of these is reported on Form - Injury and Incident Report before the end of the shift, triaged through the learning system (Incident Investigation and Learning Program), and reported to the regulator where the law requires.

The lock register (issue, return, removals by others); the equipment lockout procedures; the annual audit of at least five procedures by observation (program section 5.7); the monthly shop checklist; hot work and energized work permits; lift and pressure vessel certificates; tag-outs, hazard reports and register entries. Records are kept at least five years (05 Document Control and Records). A lockout failure with energy release is a Tier 2 review.

Authorized persons are trained before assignment and refreshed every year; affected persons get awareness training on joining; competent persons and qualified electrical persons are named in writing. The health and safety officer and the shop supervisor audit five procedures a year by watching the work. The Facilities and Stations team reviews this procedure every year and after any lockout or electrical event, starting with a learning-team session on how a job really starts when the truck is needed back. Sign-off: the program manager. Consulted: the JOHSC.

• Program: Facilities and Station Safety Program sections 5.6 to 5.8; toolkit T3, T5 and T6.
• Policy: Policy - Facilities.
• Procedures and programs: SWP - Breathing Air Fill Station and Cylinder Handling; Apparatus, Driving and Roadway Operations Program section 5.3; Contractor and Mutual Aid Safety Program.
• Forms and audit: Form - Hazard Report; Form - Contractor Orientation Checklist; Checklist - Facilities and Station Safety.

This chapter relies on the following legal requirements, which differ by province and territory. Check your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page before adopting it.