Electrical Lockouts
Electrical energy reaches the work through more than one point, and an isolation is only as good as the one you missed. This is the full range for holding an electrical isolation — the breaker at the board, the plug at the wall, the switch on the machine, the emergency stop on the panel, and the solenoid on the valve.
Start at the board
Circuit breaker lockouts are the bulk of it: pin-out devices for a breaker whose toggle pin sits proud, pin-in for a recessed one, universal bodies for a mixed board, clamp-on devices for larger handles, MCCB devices for moulded-case frames, and a DIN-rail tie bar for ganged or multi-pole breakers. There is also a self-locking device with its own keyed cylinder, for when carrying a padlock as well is one thing too many.
Then the plug, the socket and the switch
- Plug lockouts — enclose the plug so it cannot be pushed back in. Sized on cable diameter, to 13 mm, 20 mm and 25 mm, plus industrial plug and socket lockouts for 16–125 A connectors.
- Wall switch cover lockout — encloses a toggle or paddle switch entirely, rather than guarding it.
- Round switch lockout — for rotary switches at 20, 24 and 38 mm.
The two that get missed
- Emergency stop lockouts — an e-stop is a control, not an isolation. Pressed in, it can be twisted out and reset by anyone who decides the job looks finished. Covers for 22 mm and 30 mm buttons hold it pressed, and locked.
- Solenoid lockout — the pipework is obvious; the small coil driving the valve is not. Pulling the coil connector is not an isolation until the connector is covered and locked.
Materials, and what you lock it with
The bodies here are moulded nylon and ABS rather than metal — the right thing to be handling around a live board. Pair them with nylon-shackle safety padlocks for the same reason: a steel shackle on an open board is a conductor you have chosen to introduce.
Each worker needs their own keyed different padlock, and where several people work one isolation a hasp lets each of them apply a lock — the isolation cannot be released until the last one comes off.
Isolating more than electrical energy? See valve lockouts and pneumatic lockouts. Our guide to energy isolation walks through building a scheme. In stock in New Zealand, dispatched from Auckland.
