Lockout tagout in Australia: safety tags, isolation procedures, and compliance
Every year in Australia, workers are killed or seriously injured when machinery restarts unexpectedly during maintenance or cleaning. In most cases, the machine was not properly isolated. In many of those cases, no lockout tagout system was in place.
Lockout tagout (LOTO) is a formal procedure for ensuring that hazardous energy — electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, mechanical, thermal, or chemical — is isolated and cannot be re-energised while a worker is in contact with the equipment. Safety tags are one of the visible components of that system.
What the law requires
The WHS Act 2011 requires employers to manage the risks associated with plant and equipment. The Model Code of Practice for Labelling of Workplace Hazardous Chemicals and AS/NZS 4024.1603 (Safety of Machinery — Isolation of Energy) provide the technical framework for energy isolation.
State electrical safety legislation adds specific requirements for electrical isolation, with AS/NZS 4836 (Safe Working on or Near Low Voltage Electrical Installations and Equipment) providing the standard for electrical LOTO practices.
The baseline obligation is straightforward: before any person works on, near, or in a piece of equipment where unexpected start-up or energy release could cause harm, that energy must be isolated and controlled so that re-energisation cannot occur while work is in progress.
Types of safety tags
Danger tags are the most critical tag in a LOTO system. They communicate an immediate hazard: this machine is being worked on and must not be operated under any circumstances. AS/NZS 1319 specifies that danger tags use the same red, white, and black colour scheme as danger signs. A compliant danger tag must be:
- Red, white, and black
- Labelled "DANGER — Do not operate" or equivalent
- Durable enough to withstand the environment
Out of service tags communicate that equipment is defective and has been taken out of service for repair. They differ from danger tags in that the equipment may not be in the process of being worked on — it is simply unfit for use. Typically yellow or orange.
Caution tags communicate a lesser hazard — a situation that requires care but does not present an immediate risk if the equipment is operated. Under AS/NZS 1319, caution messages use yellow and black.
Personal locks and hasp sets supplement tags in modern LOTO systems. A lockout hasp allows multiple workers to each attach their own personal lock to a single isolation point — the machine cannot be re-energised until every worker has removed their individual lock. Tags alone can be removed by anyone; personal locks require the key holder to be present.
A compliant isolation procedure
A written isolation procedure for each piece of equipment is considered best practice and is required where equipment is complex or where multiple energy sources must be controlled. The procedure documents:
1. All energy sources associated with the equipment (electrical supply points, hydraulic lines, compressed air circuits, stored mechanical energy such as springs or elevated components) 2. The sequence in which each energy source must be isolated 3. The type of isolation required (lockout, blanking, blocking) 4. How to verify that energy has been isolated (testing, bleeding, gravity blocking) 5. The tags and locks to be applied at each isolation point
Without a procedure, workers improvise isolation steps, which means isolation steps get missed.
Where tags must be placed
Tags are attached to the isolation point — the actual switch, valve, or disconnect that controls the energy source. Not to the machine itself. If the machine has five energy sources, there are five isolation points and five tags.
On complex equipment with many isolation points, a lockout station near the machine stores the tags, locks, hasp sets, and a copy of the isolation procedure together so that everything required is available at the point of need.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a tag instead of a lock? Tags alone (tag-only systems) are permissible where physical lockout is not feasible, but they are considered less safe than lock-and-tag systems because a tag can be removed without a key. Where lockout is feasible, it must be used. A tag is required in all cases — it communicates to other workers that the isolation is intentional.
Who can remove a lockout tag? Only the person who applied it, or in an emergency, a person authorised by the PCBU following a documented procedure for lock removal in the absence of the person who applied the lock. Unauthorised removal of a lockout tag is a serious breach of workplace safety obligations.
Do I need a separate tag for each energy source on a machine? Yes. Each isolation point requires its own tag and lock. A single tag attached to the machine body, while other isolation points remain unlabelled, does not meet the requirement.
What qualifications are needed to perform electrical lockout? Electrical isolation must be performed by a licensed electrician in most Australian states for work on electrical equipment. Mechanical isolation of non-electrical energy sources does not typically require a licence but must be carried out by a competent person trained in the specific isolation procedure.
Shop safety tags at Industroquip: Browse our full range of AS/NZS 1319 compliant safety tags — rigid aluminium, corflute, and self-adhesive options with same-day dispatch across Australia.