Development of an Internet of Things (IoT) based Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) device for Accident Prevention in Manufacturing Industries

Abstract

Despite all the technological advances, safety remains the biggest challenge in Industries. Each year, thousands of electrocutions and hundreds of machinery-related accidental deaths are happening. A number of these accidents involve inadequate, unauthorised or improper use of hazardous energy control procedures, also known as lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedures. Although the organizations like Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), USA, The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and others have defined a very detailed LOTO procedure, however, these LOTO procedures have many manual activities. With the emergence of IoT (Internet of Things) these manual activities can be combined with automated activities thereby enhancing safety. IoT based devices can be implemented to ensure authorized access to hazardous areas around operating machinery, improve documentation and monitoring of service during repair and/or maintenance that requires shutdown of the machinery, and prevent unexpected, unauthorised start up, or movement during maintenance of machinery or related activities. Acknowledging the importance of IoT enabled safety devices NIOSH is also exploring the possibility of implementing IoT based technologies to provide intelligent machine monitoring as part of a comprehensive LOTO program. This paper presents the development of an IoT based LOTO device, its implementation and effectiveness in improving safety and accident prevention. It is found that the IoT based LOTO device is effective in accident prevention (from 47 to 0 incidents) and its performance (from 697 to 349 Seconds) is reliable.