Lockout/Tagout Training for Authorized Employees — OSHA 1910.147 Online
What Is Lockout/Tagout Training for Authorized Employees?
This is the lockout/tagout training OSHA requires for authorized employees — the people who actually apply the locks and tags before servicing or maintaining a machine. It is built on 29 CFR 1910.147, The Control of Hazardous Energy, and it covers the full authorized-employee scope: recognizing all seven types of hazardous energy, judging the magnitude of what you are about to isolate, releasing stored and residual energy, applying the six-step procedure in order, verifying isolation, and restoring energy safely afterward.
If your people service, repair, adjust, clean, unjam, set up or maintain equipment — presses, conveyors, mixers, pumps, packaging lines, HVAC, hydraulics, anything with a disconnect — this is their course.
Authorized or Affected — Which Course Do Your People Need?
This is the question most buyers get wrong, and buying the wrong course wastes their money and leaves them out of compliance. Answer it plainly on the page:
- An authorized employee is the person who applies the lock. OSHA defines them at 1910.147(b) as “a person who locks out or tags out machines or equipment in order to perform servicing or maintenance on that machine or equipment.” They need this course.
- An affected employee operates or uses the machine, or works in the area where the servicing is happening, but does not apply the lock themselves. They need the shorter Lockout/Tagout — Affected course.
- The line moves with the job, not the job title. OSHA is explicit: “An affected employee becomes an authorized employee when that employee’s duties include performing servicing or maintenance covered under this section.” An operator who clears their own jams is authorized for that task.
- The training is not the same. Under 1910.147(c)(7)(i)(A) an authorized employee is trained in recognizing energy sources, the type and magnitude of energy available, and the methods of isolation and control. Under (c)(7)(i)(B) an affected employee is only “instructed in the purpose and use of the energy control procedure.”
What You Will Learn — 8 Module Breakdown
Module 1 — Why LOTO Matters & When It Applies
What 1910.147 covers and when a job crosses into lockout territory. Covers the servicing and maintenance trigger, the guard-bypass and danger-zone rule, the three exceptions where full lockout is not required, and the other standards that carry energy-control duties.
Module 2 — Hazardous Energy & Stored Energy
You cannot control energy you cannot recognize. Covers all seven energy types and where they are actually met in the field, why magnitude matters as much as type, why “off at the switch” is not zero energy, and how stored energy comes back after shutdown.
Module 3 — Key Definitions & Roles
The words that decide who locks out. Covers the 1910.147(b) definitions of authorized, affected and other employees, what each role may and may not do, why a stop button is not an energy-isolating device, and the two moments when notification is required.
Module 4 — The Energy Control Program
A lock without a program is just a padlock. Covers the three legs of the program — documented procedures, training and periodic inspection — what 1910.147(c)(4) requires a written procedure to contain, and the eight-part exception that lets an employer skip documenting one.
Module 5 — Devices, Hardware & Tagout
The lock and the tag are the physical barrier and they have requirements of their own. Covers employer-provided, standardized, durable and single-purpose devices, what each piece of hardware is for, tag legends, and the additional measures required when a tag is used on a lockable device.
Module 6 — The Six-Step Application Procedure
The part that keeps you alive. Covers the six steps in their required order, releasing stored and residual energy after the disconnect is locked, verifying isolation before entering the danger zone, and a full worked example applied to one machine.
Module 7 — Release, Testing & Special Situations
Removing the lock is as procedural as applying it. Covers the four checks before energy is restored, the rule that the employee who applied the device removes it, the safe sequence for temporary re-energization for testing, group lockout under 1910.147(f)(3), outside contractors, and shift change.
Module 8 — Training, Inspection & Wrap-Up
What keeps the program alive. Covers the training each employee type must receive under 1910.147(c)(7), the trigger-based retraining rules, the at-least-annual periodic inspection and who may perform it, the certification records required, and a full review keyed to the assessment.
Who Should Take This Course?
- Maintenance technicians, millwrights and mechanics who service production equipment
- Electricians performing non-electrical servicing tasks that require energy isolation
- Machine operators who clear jams, change tooling, or reach past a guard on their own equipment
- Setup and changeover crews on packaging, converting and assembly lines
- Facilities and HVAC technicians working on pumps, compressors, chillers and air handlers
- Contractors and outside servicing personnel who lock out equipment at a customer site
- Supervisors and leads who coordinate group lockout or hold the primary responsibility device
- Safety managers who need documented 1910.147(c)(7) training and a retrievable training record
What You Get When You Complete This Course
- Training aligned to the 29 CFR 1910.147(c)(7)(i)(A) requirement for authorized employees
- A printable certificate of completion issued after passing the 25-question assessment
- A training record your employer can keep under 1910.147(c)(7)(iv), which requires certification containing each employee’s name and dates of training
- Field-ready skills: the seven energy types, the six-step application procedure in order, stored energy release, isolation verification, and the release sequence
- The hard cases most courses skip — group lockout, outside contractors, shift change, and temporary re-energization for testing
- Mobile-friendly, self-paced access with narration on every section — start, stop and resume from any device
How Long Does It Take? Format & Requirements
Plan on about 2 to 2.5 hours of seat time across 8 modules and 52 sections, including roughly an hour of narration plus interactive exercises, knowledge checks and the 25-question assessment. Progress saves automatically, so it can be taken in one sitting or across a week.
Does Lockout/Tagout Training Expire?
29 CFR 1910.147 sets no expiration date and no annual retraining interval. Retraining is trigger-based: under (c)(7)(iii)(A) it is required whenever there is a change in job assignments, a change in machines, equipment or processes that presents a new hazard, or a change in the energy control procedures. Under (c)(7)(iii)(B) it is also required whenever a periodic inspection reveals — or the employer has reason to believe there are — deviations or inadequacies in an employee’s knowledge or use of the procedures.
What is annual is the inspection, not the training. 1910.147(c)(6)(i) requires the employer to “conduct a periodic inspection of the energy control procedure at least annually,” performed by an authorized employee other than the one using the procedure being inspected. Many employers refresh training on the same annual cycle as a matter of policy, which is good practice — but it is policy, not a requirement of the standard.
Q: What is the difference between an authorized and an affected employee?
A: An authorized employee applies the lock or tag to service the machine; an affected employee operates or uses that machine, or works in the area, but does not apply the lock. OSHA defines both at 29 CFR 1910.147(b). The distinction follows the task, not the job title — an affected employee becomes an authorized employee when their duties include performing the servicing or maintenance. Authorized employees need this course; affected employees need the shorter Lockout/Tagout — Affected course.
Q: Does lockout/tagout training expire?
A: No. 29 CFR 1910.147 sets no expiration date and no fixed retraining interval. Retraining is required under (c)(7)(iii) when job assignments change, when machines, equipment or processes change in a way that presents a new hazard, when the energy control procedures change, or when an inspection reveals gaps in an employee’s knowledge or use of the procedures.
Q: Is annual lockout/tagout retraining required by OSHA?
A: No — but an annual inspection is, and the two are often confused. 1910.147(c)(6)(i) requires a periodic inspection of the energy control procedure at least annually. Employee retraining under (c)(7)(iii) is trigger-based, not calendar-based. Many employers retrain annually as a matter of policy, which is sound practice but is not what the standard requires.
Q: Who can remove a lockout device?
A: The employee who applied it. 1910.147 builds the whole release sequence around that rule, and the narrow exception for removing another employee’s device requires a specific documented procedure and verified steps to make sure the employee is not at the machine. This course covers both the rule and the exception.
Q: Do I need a written lockout procedure for every machine?
A: Usually yes. 1910.147(c)(4)(i) requires procedures to be developed, documented and utilized. A printed Note to that paragraph provides a narrow exception for a machine that meets all eight listed conditions — including a single, readily identifiable energy source, no stored or residual energy, and no accidents involving unexpected activation. Module 4 walks through all eight.
Q: What are the six steps of lockout/tagout?
A: Prepare for shutdown, shut the equipment down, isolate the energy, apply the lockout or tagout devices, release stored and residual energy, and verify isolation. The order matters — verification is last because it is the check that everything before it worked. Module 6 applies all six to a real machine.
Q: What counts as an energy-isolating device?
A: A mechanical device that physically prevents energy from being transmitted or released — a disconnect switch, a circuit breaker, a line valve, a block. A push button, selector switch or other control-circuit device is not an energy-isolating device, which is why stopping a machine at the operator station is not lockout.
Q: How does group lockout work?
A: When a crew services a machine, 1910.147(f)(3)(i) requires a procedure that gives each employee protection equivalent to a personal lock. In practice each authorized employee affixes their own device to a group lockbox or comparable mechanism when they start work and removes it when they stop, with primary responsibility vested in one authorized employee. Module 7 covers it.
Q: Does this course certify me to lock out equipment?
A: It delivers the formal instruction 1910.147(c)(7) requires and establishes the knowledge an authorized employee must have. Your employer still has to provide the machine-specific energy control procedures for your equipment and certify your training with your name and training dates under (c)(7)(iv).
Q: How long does lockout/tagout training take?
A: This course runs about 2 to 2.5 hours across 8 modules, including roughly an hour of narration, interactive exercises and a 25-question assessment. It is self-paced and progress saves automatically, so it can be completed in one sitting or across several.
Lockout/Tagout – Authorized Employee $40 Enroll Today
