D.C. Circuit Upholds OSHA Citations For Lockout/Tagout Procedure Violations

After a service mechanic working for an elevator company injured his hand while unjamming a gate of a freight elevator at a customer’s facility, OSHA issued citations to the elevator company including for violating the safety standards relating to the control of hazardous energy.  Following administrative challenges, the elevator company appealed to the D.C. Circuit, which denied the company’s petition to review OSHA’s citations.

The company argued that OSHA’s lockout/tagout standards related to the control of hazardous energy did not apply because there was never an “unexpected” release of energy in the repairs the mechanic was performing, and that the company had no duty to exchange information about its lockout/tagout procedures to the workers at the customer facility because none of those workers came within proximity of the elevator while the repairs were being performed.  The D.C. Circuit rejected each argument.  The court found that the OSHA Review Commission permissibly concluded that the lockout/tagout protocols applied because stored energy was present in the jammed chain and that the exact timing of the chain assembly’s energization was unknown, and thus unexpected to the service mechanic.  Further, the Review Commission’s conclusion that the proactive exchange of information in advance of repairs regardless of any post hoc assessment of risk on a repair-by-repair basis was reasonable, and thus the company was required to advise the customer’s employees about the lockout/tagout procedures (even though none of those employees ended up going near the elevator).