MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- With any military operation comes a laundry list of necessary safety procedures.
Since Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni carries out both port and aerial support, one can imagine the highly critical steps taken to ensure mission accomplishment does not compromise personnel safety.
One such program is the Lockout/Tagout, a documented process used to monitor potentially hazardous valves and systems by either physically locking the system or placing descriptive caution or danger tags on the equipment.
“The purpose of this program is to ensure air station personnel are protected from injury during any servicing or maintenance done on machinery or equipment where unexpected energizing, start up or release of any type of energy can occur,” said Petty Offi cer 2nd Class Jason Smith, Navy cryogenics machinist mate.
The Navy Cryogenics Division reiterated safety training, July 13, during a class given by Smith about the station’s Lockout/Tagout program.
While on ship, Navy personnel are familiar with the Engineering Ship Organizational Management System (ESOMS), a computer program used to manage, inventory and maintain an updated status of locked out or tagged out valves and equipment.
Since Navy cryogenic personnel here are the most experienced with this system, they receive fi rst-hand Lockout/ Tagout training, evaluate the material and submit their input to station safety to implement throughout the station.
Properly executing a Lockout/Tagout requires six steps: prepare for shutdown, shut down the equipment, isolate the equipment, apply Lockout/ Tagout devices, control stored energy and verify isolation of equipment.
“It’s very effective,” said Petty Offi cer 1st Class Mark D. Baker, cryogenics leading chief petty offi cer. “In a way, it’s a lot of bureaucracy, and it slows a lot of the maintenance process down, but it does contribute directly to saving lives.”
On ship, there are thousands of valves and systems, which require Lockout/ Tagout before maintenance can safely be done on the system.
“Some examples locks are used on are a main steam valve, sea water systems that connect directly into the sea but only have single-valve protection, fi re sprinkler systems and just things where you don’t want somebody inadvertently opening that valve whether they know it’s tagged out or not,” said Baker. “You want to make sure that valve does not get operated at all.”
On station, some potentially hazardous valves are fuel, water and steam-fi re protection valves; however, any system that uses kinetic, hydraulic or electric-driven energy can be potentially hazardous and may require Lockout/Tagout procedures before maintenance can be done on the system.
“If you’re unsure about something, call an expert and have them come and look,” said Baker. “It can be the smallest thing, but there’s no rush. And even at that, if we break something we can replace the equipment. We can’t replace personnel. Once you lose a body, they’re gone forever.”
Baker and others said when properly executed, the Lockout/ Tagout program is ideal; however, complacency is what leads to mishaps.
“The system is designed to be 100 percent effective, but the human factor is what causes accidents, usually,” said Petty Offi cer 2nd Class Keelham Kesic, Navy cryogenics machinist mate.
Sailors with the Navy Cryogenics Division were shown some of the standard locking devices and practiced properly tagging some simulated hazardous valves before concluding their training.