One of the most important thing that someone must do before inspecting or maintaining a ride, whether you are an inspector or an operator inspecting/maintaining a ride, is to Lock-Out  and Tag-Out the ride.

 

This means to lock all sources of power than could harm the persons involved in the activity and put a tag on the lock to indicate the person that did it. It is always possible to do this for any kind of power source. It is always possible to do this, whether it is a switch or a valve.

 

The people that died or suffered heavy damages from an incorrect start of a machine while other people were involved in inspections or maintenance are sadly a lot, and never a more important accent could be put than on this vital step of safety procedures.

 

I learnt this while my courses at NAARSO, in USA and have to say that this thing is so unknown that the simple reading of this post could save lives.

 

The main concept of this is very simple: BEFORE CONDUCTING ANY INSPECTION OR MAINTENANCE ACTIVITY ON A RIDE, ONE OR MORE PEOPLE MUST SHOT OF AND LOCK ANY SOURCE OF POWER, WHETHER IT MAY BE MECHANICAL, ELECTRICAL, HYDRAULIC OR PNEUMATIC POWER, AND THE LOCK MUST BE MARKES IN A WAY THAT IT IS VISIBILE AND ONE MUST KNOW WHO DID IT.

 

This is simply done by a special lock, that holds many holes. So, if several people are involved in different activities on the same machine, nobody can start that machine until the last lock would be removed.

 

Simple concept, easy to do, but a terrific importance for safety and lives saving.

 

 

If you need further explainations or help, don’t hesistate to contact me at the email contact@rideszone.info or by Whatsapp at the number +39 349 084 7881.

 

Alberto Fabbri