Design of an intelligent tool for the observation and follow-up of lockout procedures during maintenance activities on industrial machines

Workers performing maintenance, repair and un-jamming operations on industrial machines and processes are required to follow lockout procedures in accordance with occupational health and safety regulations. However, industries seem to have difficulties in the appropriation and implementation of lockout. Reports of severe accidents, often fatal, involving industrial machinery show the extent of the problem concerning the application of lockout procedures. In this context, an intelligent tool incorporated at the design stage of a machine, which helps to apply and record lockout procedures, could be useful. Thereby, the design of a laboratory prototype has been explored for a particular maintenance task on an automated plastic injection moulding machine. Its architecture has been based on three electronic cards, sensors and wireless communications. Despite the limitations of the current version of the tool, the feasibility of designing an intelligent tool capable of following and recording lockout procedures is demonstrated.