Lockout Tagout (LOTO) Tags

Milscreen™ lockout tags, written LOTO tags on most permits, attach to an energy isolation point and say, in writing and to anybody who walks up to it, that the equipment is isolated and must not be re-energised. The padlock stops the device being operated; the tag explains why it is locked and who to speak to before anybody removes it.

What is printed on a lockout tag. Standard formats carry a red DANGER banner and DO NOT OPERATE, with write-on fields for the information the permit system needs back: the LOTO number, the key number, who signed it and the date on the front, and remarks, the permit number and a contact person on the back. Commissioning, out of service and equipment-specific wordings are produced to the same pattern.

Blind and turnaround tagging. On a refinery or petrochemical shutdown the isolation is a physical blind rather than a switch, and the tagging is a system in its own right. Maintenance blind tags carry the turnaround ID, the LOTO number, the blind number and the line size, so a blind list can be walked and reconciled before start-up. These are produced in coloured aluminium and are both colour coded and shape coded, so a blind still to be removed reads differently across a unit from one already cleared. Triangular tags carry service warnings such as H2S where the line demands it.

Materials. PVC is the standard for lockout tags: it takes a ballpoint, survives being pulled on and rained on, and stays in place for the full duration of the work rather than tearing off halfway through a shutdown. Coloured aluminium is used for blind and turnaround tagging and anywhere the tag has to last a whole campaign outdoors. Holes are reinforced or punched clear of the edge so the tag does not tear off the padlock.

A lockout programme also needs every lock traceable to whoever holds the key, so we engrave the padlocks you already use with a department code, a number or a name. We mark your locks; we do not supply them.

Numbering and reconciliation. Sequential numbering ties each tag to a permit or a blind list, which is what lets somebody walking the plant match tags on the floor against the board and find the one that was never cleared. That is the difference between a tag that looks right and a tag that can be audited at the end of a shutdown.

Where the tag records a periodic check rather than an isolation (ladders, harnesses, lifting gear, fire equipment), see our inspection and maintenance tags.

Used by maintenance teams and contractors across Singapore industrial and energy sectors.

Where a valve has to show its normal operating state rather than being locked out for work, that is a normally open or normally closed valve status tag, and many sites use both on the same plant.