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Lockout/Tagout (Z244) Standards-Based User Group (SBUG)

Strengthen Hazardous Energy Control Where It Matters Most

Lockout/tagout failures remain one of the most persistent and high-risk challenges in industrial operations. Despite established standards, real-world execution varies widely across equipment types, shifts, and sites.

The Lockout/Tagout (Z244) Standards-Based User Group (SBUG) is a practitioner-led community focused on improving how hazardous energy control is applied in complex, real-world environments.

It operates as a field intelligence network where experienced professionals share implementation realities, identify breakdowns in execution, and examine what actually drives reliable control of hazardous energy. These insights are then used to strengthen standards interpretation, tools and field practices through a structured feedback loop between real-world execution, peer learning and standards development.

The outcome is clearer execution, fewer gaps in control, and more consistent protection for workers performing maintenance and servicing activities.

LockoutTagout_SBUGS

Focus Areas

  • Lockout/tagout execution in complex industrial environments
  • Multi-energy source isolation and verification challenges
  • Maintenance and servicing safety workflows
  • Program consistency across shifts, sites and contractors
  • Integration of automation, robotics and connected systems
  • Emerging tools for energy isolation and control verification

Why SBUGs Are Different

This is not a compliance discussion forum or policy review group. It is a field-focused working environment built around execution intelligence.

  • Grounded in real maintenance and operational conditions, not theoretical application
  • Driven by field experience and observed performance outcomes
  • Structured to connect frontline realities with standards development feedback
  • Focused on improving consistency, reliability and practical usability of energy control programs

How It Works

A Continuous Exchange Between Field Practice and Standards Insight

1

Field Experience Shared

Members bring real hazardous energy control challenges from maintenance, operations and servicing activities.

2

Structured Peer Review

Facilitated sessions with experienced subject matter experts (SMEs) and cross-industry practitioners to examine approaches and constraints.

3

Intelligence Development

Recurring patterns, failure points and effective practices are identified and synthesized into practical insights.

4

Field and Standards Feedback

Insights are translated into tools, guidance and structured input that supports both members and standards development processes.

What You Gain

Participation provides both practical resources and field-informed intelligence that improves execution quality and consistency.

Access & Resources

Four expert-led virtual sessions per year
Private peer exchange forum for ongoing discussion
Practical implementation tools and decision aids
Standards-to-workflow alignment resources
Real-world case examples and lessons learned

Operational Benefits

Stronger, more consistent lockout/tagout performance with reduced variation across sites and teams
Improved identification of where energy control processes break down and the contributing factors
Better alignment between standards and real-world application, with direct input into the evolution of implementation guidance and tools
Benchmarking insights on program structure, compliance and field performance
Awareness of emerging technologies and their impact on isolation and verification practices

 

    Led By a Nationally Recognized Expert

    Kathi Dobson, CSP is a 27-year veteran of the construction industry and owner of KDSafety Solutions, LLC. She is a national member of ASSP’s Standards Development Committee and represents the ASSP SBUG community as the Hazardous Energy Control (LOTO) SME. Kathi has extensive standards development experience, including serving on the ANSI/ASSP Z590.6 technical report on PPE for women and multiple ANSI consensus standards committees. Appointed to NACOSH in 2021 and reappointed in 2023, she has helped advance workplace safety initiatives, including heat injury and illness prevention. In 2026, she received the Midwest Women in Safety Group’s Safety Lifetime Achievement Award.

          Join the Lockout/Tagout (Z244) SBUG

          Who Should Join

          Designed for professionals responsible for hazardous energy control and maintenance safety, including:

          EHS and safety leaders
          Maintenance and operations managers
          Industrial and manufacturing safety professionals
          Safety engineers and consultants
          Equipment manufacturers and system designers
          Join as an Individual

          Be part of a practitioner-driven group focused on improving how hazardous energy control is executed in real operational environments.

          Join as an Individual Practitioner

          Join as a Sponsor

          Bring your organization into the conversation.

          Join as a Sponsor

          New From the Lockout/Tagout (Z244) SBUG: A Practical Technical Brief 

          ASSP's Standards Based User Groups don't just talk about standards — they turn field experience into practical, ready-to-use tools. Drawing on real maintenance and operational conditions, SBUG participants develop deliverables like technical briefs, comparison checklists and recommended actions that give EHS professionals something they can apply directly to their programs, not just discuss. 

          The Lockout/Tagout (Z244) SBUG put that model to work on one of the field's most common points of confusion: how OSHA's enforceable lockout/tagout requirements relate to the ANSI/ASSP consensus-based standards that go further. The result is a new technical brief comparing OSHA 29 CFR 1910.147 with ANSI/ASSP Z244.1-2024 and ANSI/ASSP A10.44-2020. It's built for safety professionals who want to review their current energy control programs against all three, identify where a compliant program still has room to reduce residual risk and prioritize improvements, with OSHA remaining the regulatory baseline throughout. 

          What's in the brief: 

          • A side-by-side look at OSHA 29 CFR 1910.147 (the general industry baseline), ANSI/ASSP Z244.1-2024 (a risk-based framework for lockout, tagout and alternative methods) and ANSI/ASSP A10.44-2020 (construction- and demolition-specific requirements) 

          • Key differences across scope, risk assessment, written procedures, verification, training, group LOTO, shift transfer, contractor coordination, equipment design and recordkeeping 

          • Mapping checklists to compare existing practices against each standard 

          • Recommended actions for both general industry and construction employers 

          Download the Technical Brief

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