301 - Clearance and Tagging
- For the complete information on the clearance and tagging process see NMP-AD-003.
- When appropriate, contractors may work under the protection of their own clearance procedure provided it has been approved by the site safety coordinator and Operations department.
- Danger, hold, or other protective tags or devices used for equipment isolation shall not be applied, altered, or removed except under established procedures.
- Whenever new electrical equipment is installed or replacement/major modification of existing equipment is performed, if the equipment requires isolation, it shall be designed to accept a lockout device.
- Clearances shall be written and held only by authorized employees.
- When working on or near equipment or systems, you shall observe the boundaries established by the protective tags and the conditions imposed by the tags.
- Employees shall consider all installed electrical lines and equipment to be energized and all installed mechanical equipment to be in service until the lines and/or equipment have been properly tagged and/or grounded in accordance with prescribed clearance procedures. Prior to starting work, lines and/or equipment shall be verified as de-energized by testing the equipment/circuit unless otherwise provided by site procedure. The operation of disconnects shall be performed by qualified workers and shall have the required live-dead-live prior to work being performed on this component.
- When using tags as part of the clearance
and tagging procedure tags have the following limitations:
- Tags are warning devices affixed to energy isolating devices and do not provide the physical restraint on those devices that is provided by a lock.
- When a tag is attached to an energy-isolating means, it shall not be removed without authorization of the authorized person responsible for it, and it shall never be bypassed, ignored, or otherwise defeated.
- Tags must be legible and understandable by all authorized employees, affected employees, and all other employees whose work operations are or may be in the area.
- Tags and their means of attachment must be made of materials that will withstand the environmental conditions encountered in the workplace.
- Tags may evoke a false sense of security, so their meaning should be understood as part of the overall energy control program.
- Tags must be securely attached to energy isolating devices so that they cannot be inadvertently or incidentally detached during use.