Digital process · Coordination
Group lockout with several work groups
Mechanical fitters, electricians, instrumentation technicians and contractors often work on the same machine. Each of them needs to know the machine is isolated, and nobody can be overlooked when it is unlocked. A digital process gives this coordination firm rules: who has joined, who is still working and when unlocking is allowed.
The machine is unlocked only after the last group.
How does LOTOTO work with several work groups?
Short answerThe machine is locked out once, and every further group working on it joins that lockout. While any group is still active, the machine cannot be unlocked in the system.
For a job, the machine is isolated from all required energy sources. The authorised persons performing the isolation confirm their energies, and the machine is then recorded as locked out. Several groups can then work on the isolated machine, at the same time or one after another, each with a different task.
The risk lies not in locking out but in ending the lockout. If the only record of who is still working is a verbal handover or a note on paper, the machine may be released by someone who did not know about one of the groups. The digital process therefore ties unlocking to the status of every group that has joined.
Who may be working on one piece of equipment?
Short answerOften several work groups at once: mechanical fitters, electricians, an external service company and other maintenance staff. Each group may have its own responsible person and its own scope of work.
What a digital system can show at a glance
- which work groups are involved in the job,
- who is responsible for each group,
- which groups are still working,
- which groups have already finished,
- whether the process conditions for continuing to release the equipment are met.
Returning equipment to service must always respect the physical isolation rules and procedures of the specific site. A digital overview does not replace each worker’s personal lock or the physical rules of group lockout – it helps to manage and document the coordination of work groups.
How do you know who is still working on the machine?
Short answerThe lockout record lists every worker and group that has joined. For each one it shows who they are, how to contact them and whether their work is still active.
The list is part of the lockout record itself, not a separate spreadsheet that someone has to keep up to date. The requester, the operator and the persons performing the isolation all see the same status. If someone needs to be reached before work is finished, their contact details are right next to their name.
- Who has joined the lockout: the worker or group and the person responsible.
- Contact details for reaching that person.
- Status: work in progress or finished.
Active lockouts can also be shown on a public overview that needs no login, for example on a wall-mounted screen in the workshop or the control room. The overview refreshes automatically. What the record contains is described on the lockout tracking page.
How does another group join an existing lockout?
Short answerThe worker or group joins the existing lockout record. From that moment they are shown as active and block unlocking until they finish their work.
A new group therefore does not open its own lockout on the same equipment. Everyone working on it is recorded against one lockout – each group with its responsible person and work status.
- Machine is locked outAll required energies have been confirmed by the persons performing the isolation, each with its lock number.
- Group joinsAnother worker or group joins the lockout record and is shown as active.
- Work in progressWhile the group is active, the machine cannot be unlocked in the system.
- Group finishesOnce the group finishes its work, it no longer blocks unlocking. The record of its involvement remains.
Before starting work, each group must be certain that the machine is genuinely free of hazardous energy. That is the purpose of Tryout: verifying that the isolation is effective. How Tryout is recorded and built into the digital workflow is something we design around the rules of your site.
ReadWhat is LOTOTOWhen can the machine be unlocked?
Short answerOnly once the requester or their substitute has finished the work and no joined group is still active. Each person who performed an isolation then confirms the unlocking of their own energy.
In the system, unlocking depends on two conditions at once. The first is an explicit “finish work” by the requester, the person who requested the job. The second is the status of the joined groups. If any of them is still working, unlocking is not possible, even if the requester has already finished.
- Groups finish workEach joined group finishes its work. The record shows who is still active.
- Requester finishes workThe requester or their substitute confirms that work on the machine is complete.
- Unlocking energy by energyThe persons who performed the isolation unlock their energies. Each confirms only the energy they are responsible for.
- Completion and archiveThe record moves to Completed and later to the archive, where it remains traceable.
This sequence is not advice in a manual. It is built into the process: the system does not offer unlocking until the conditions are met. Who may finish work and who confirms the unlocking of each energy is set up according to the roles and authorisations at your site.
How are shift changes and work handovers handled?
Short answerThe lockout stays in place across shift changes. The incoming shift can see in the record which groups are still active and whom to contact.
Longer jobs and shutdowns run across several shifts. With paper records, the handover depends on what people tell each other at shift change. In a digital record the information is not lost: the status of each energy, the joined groups and their contact details are available to anyone with access to the record.
If a task belonging to a worker who is leaving has to be carried out by someone else, substitution is used, as described below. How physical protection is maintained across shift changes, for example the personal locks of individual workers, is governed by your site’s group lockout rules.
How does substitution work?
Short answerA task can be taken over by an authorised substitute from a pre-configured substitution group. The record still shows who actually carried out the task.
Substitution groups are configured in advance, for example by shift. Both the persons performing the isolation and requesters can be substituted, so a requester’s substitute can also confirm that work is finished. The record keeps a “Substituted by: …” note with the name of the person who really carried out the task.
Taking over a task in the application does not, however, authorise anyone to remove another person’s personal lock. When workers change, continuity of physical protection must be maintained according to the established procedure. The US regulation OSHA 29 CFR 1910.147 also highlights this requirement; we cite it only as a technical reference framework, not as a substitute for the regulations that apply to you.
Why is this more than an electronic form?
Short answerAn electronic form only stores information. A digital LOTOTO process uses that information to control the next steps: until the conditions are met, the system does not let the process continue.
These are features of the existing application, proven in operation. Specific roles, substitution groups and rules for finishing work are configured to match how group lockout works at your site. How these elements fit together is described on the digital LOTOTO page.
Group lockout is especially common during shutdowns with many parallel jobs, for example in cement plants or in metals production.
What does digital group tracking not replace?
Frequently asked questions
Can contractors join the same lockout?
We design how contractors are involved around your rules. They can have their own access, or a responsible person from your site can represent them in the record.
What if someone forgets to finish their work?
The machine stays blocked in the system. Contact details are shown for each group, so it is clear whom to reach. What happens next is set by your site’s rules.
Are the people involved notified of status changes?
The system sends in-app and email notifications, for example for a new request, approval, lockout and unlocking.
Can several machines be locked out at once?
Yes. Machines that are always locked out together can be grouped in advance, and a single lockout can be created for the whole group.
Next step
How do you close out work by several groups today?
We will walk through how group lockout, work handovers and substitution work at your site, and then show you what this would look like as a digital process.